AUBURN -- Local food pantries received an early Christmas present thanks to some ripe, red fruit.

Organizers of this year's Central New York TomatoFest handed out checks to eight food pantries Thursday during a meeting of Auburn City Council. Eight organizations received a total of $11,000 that came from the September event's proceeds.

The money comes at a time when local food pantries are seeing increased demand and expecting smaller-than-normal contributions due to tight economic times.

"This has been one of the hardest years for us because of the demand," said Nancy Sheffield, pantry coordinator at Calvary Food Pantry CNY, after she thanked TomatoFest officials for the donation.

Every year, event organizers give the profits from the festival to local charity groups. Food donations are also collected throughout TomatoFest and passed on to the food pantries.

Janice Sanders, co-president of TomatoFest, handed out a check each to Calvary, Cato Christian Food Pantry, Cayuga Health Association, Community Caring and First Love, Port Byron Community Food Pantry, Salvation Army and the Cayuga County Community Food Pantry.

After the meeting, Sanders said this year's donation total surpassed last year's by $2,000.

"We hope it is even bigger and better next year," Sanders said. "Every year it gets more difficult."

Each organization will use the donations to fund their year-round operations. Dennis Cregan of the Cayuga County chapter of Salvation Army thanked TomatoFest volunteers for their help in supporting all the organizations.

Food pantries are able to make that money go further than many groups, Cregan said. Because they have access to the Syracuse-based Food Bank of Central New York, food pantries are able to buy many of their goods at a low price.

"It just means so much more for the quantity we are able to buy," Cregan said.

For the full report, read Friday's edition of The Citizen.