SPRINGFIELD – The annual radio drive to raise food and funding for the Open Pantry reached a new high – more than $132,000 in donations and cash.

Rock 102’s Michael Baxendale and John O’Brien have been raising hunger awareness and donations for the Open Pantry Community Services, Inc.  for more than 25 years. The Open Pantry operates an emergency food pantry that services much of Springfield.

For 53 hours, Bax and O’Brien broadcast from a mobile home in the parking lot of the Basketball Hall of Fame urging their listeners to make donations. Individuals and organizations brought in donation around the clock filling several tractor trailers.

With less than an hour to go on Nov. 22, Terry Maxey, the interim executive director of the Open Pantry knew that last year’s record of $125,000 was going to be surpassed.

He called the donation drive “really important” and a “true asset.” The food that was donated would carry the organization through the next six months of service, he explained.

Maxey added that with an influx of evacuees to the area due to weather disasters, there is “an increasing demand” for the Pantry’s service.