While Lee County’s estimated 3,000 homeless residents brace for tonight’s 40-degree temperatures, more than 600 people are expected to gather at Sam Galloway Ford’s dealership to raise money in order to feed those struggling community members.

This year’s sixth annual Galloway and Friends Soup Kitchen Benefit begins at 6 p.m. tonight at the Galloway Family dealership located off Boy Scout Road in Fort Myers.

Galloway understands that charitable giving has decreased drastically from past years. This is the reason he dropped the ticket price from $150 to $100 per person this year. The event has sold out.

“Love thy neighbor,” said Galloway in a prepared statement. “I still have my business, my car and a roof over my head, but many people don’t. Two dollars will feed a local family in need for a day. I might not have as much as I did yesterday, but I can still help my fellow man and I hope others can, too.”

The dress is casual. Local restaurants and patrons donate all food for the event. This year’s menu includes appetizers and food from the Mucky Duck, Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, 3 Fishermen Seafood Restaurant, Hickory Bar-B-Que, Wesley and Deanna Hansen, J.G. Webster’s Catering, Sunshine Seafood Caf, the Farmer’s Market Restaurant, CCMI’s Soup Kitchen and Uncle Charlie’s Cookie Ministry.

“This event has never been about dancing and games and pageantry,” Galloway said. “It was started as a no-frills, down-home gathering in our service area with the sole intention of raising money to feed our area’s hungry and that is what is has remained. But, this year, more than ever, we need the entire community’s support to help our friends and neighbors who have lost their jobs, can’t find work and have no food to feed their families.”

“We are seeing dramatic increases across every service we provide from noontime meals to home deliveries and social service referrals,” said Sarah Owen, CEO of CCMI. “We recently found a neighborhood where over 500 children have no food to eat once they leave school on Friday. Even the smallest contribution makes a difference,” he said.

CCMI is the umbrella agency for the Soup Kitchen and Food Pantry, Meals on Wheels, Senior Transportation, the Montessori Preschool of Dunbar and Family and Homeless Services. The Soup Kitchen serves a noontime meal six days a week to men, women, and children in a traditional soup kitchen setting. In addition, CCMI prepares and delivers nutritious packaged meals and beverages for the homebound hungry, offers a food pantry that provides emergency groceries to families in need and two nutritious meals a day for the children in their childcare center. CCMI serves Fort Myers and the greater Lee County area, including Bonita Springs, Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres.

Galloway reported that the $450,000 raised last year helped feed thousands of people throughout the year.

“In business, we are forced to cut out any unnecessary expenses, but in my opinion, the Soup Kitchen doesn’t fall into the category of my cutbacks,” said Sandy Stilwell, owner of Stilwell Enterprises and Sunshine Seafood Caf, one of the local restaurants donating food for the event. “My heart goes out to the hungry and homeless, and there are more people than ever needing our help. I hope this year’s event will bring in the needed funds to keep the services at the level that they need to be.”

For more information, contact CCMI at 332-7687, ext. 110.