PORT ANGELES — City employees collected 7,495 cans of tuna to go along with the 8,381 donated by county employees in the 17th annual Tuna Fish Drive.
Although the county won the friendly battle between local governments, Port Angeles city staffers brought in more cans per person than the county, city spokeswoman Teresa Pierce noted.
With 234 full-time employees, Port Angeles contributed an average of 32 cans per worker.
The 405 full time equivalent county work force contributed an average of 21 cans per person.
“In the end, the big winner truly is the Port Angeles Food Bank,” Pierce wrote in an email.
The city arranged its tuna cans in a pyramid-shaped “Tuna Kahuna” at the Vern Burton Community Center gymnasium.
The tuna drive started March 9 and ended Monday.
Of the 7,495 cans collected by the city, 270 were donated by kids aged 5 to 12 in after school programs, said Cindy Kochanek, administrative specialist in the city’s recreation division.
The Tuna Fish Drive supports the Port Angeles, Sequim, Forks and Clallam Bay food banks and the Salvation Army.
Service clubs like the Kiwanis, Rotary, Elks and Soroptimist International also contribute cans and money to the tuna drive.
City and county workers combined collected 15,876 cans of tuna.
The total number of cans for this year’s tuna drive is not yet available, drive Chairman Tim Crowley said.
The goal was to surpass last year’s total of 21,917 cans of fish.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
