BLOOMINGTON - Organizers of the recent 14th annual Clare House food drive are sure the effort reached its higher-than-usual goal of 140 tons of food to meet growing demand.

Drive chairman Dan O'Brien said about 130 tons of food had been sorted by Wednesday with more donations coming in a week after the nearly month-long drive ended.

"I've had three people in last two days tell me, 'I have all this food and didn't bring it in yet,' " O'Brien said.

In addition, cash donations to buy more food are still being tallied, said O'Brien, who owns Extreme Motors in Bloomington. O'Brien and Clare House founder Tina Sipula credited success to mini-drives at corporations and schools. Sipula also thanked a record number of volunteers.

"We have a lot to celebrate. We achieved our goal," he said.

"We did good," added Sipula. "The last day, we never sat down. We were constantly unloading cars and pickup trucks. It came in like crazy at the end."

The food drive began Nov. 1 and ended Nov. 26. The pantry, 703 E. Washington St., is a Catholic Worker house that accepts no government aid. Food is handed out one bag at a time at 1 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays. Clare House also operates the Loves & Fishes Soup Kitchen at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Bloomington.

The drive collected 101 tons last year. Sipula warned more food was needed heading into 2009 because the food line was growing ever longer as the area's economy followed the national trend downward. Turnout in the food line reached a record 225 people the day before Thanksgiving, when everyone received the usual bag of dry goods and a special turkey compliments of the McLean County Sportsmen Association.

Only time will tell whether the food supply will be enough to see the pantry through until next November.

"My hope is people are just as generous in the spring (when) the Jaycees and the postal workers have food drives. All of the food pantries benefit from those, and they'll all be suffering come springtime because our lines are so long," Sipula said.