North Mississippi mayors are once again facing off in a “friendly competition” to see which city can collect more canned food for the fifth annual March of the Mayors food drive.

Throughout the next month, citizens of Columbus, Starkville, West Point, Caledonia, Baldwyn, Tupelo and Oxford are asked to donate specific food items that will be used to stock local pantries.

Mayor Keith Gaskin hopes to repeat the success Columbus had with the food drive last year.

“I think we had the most products that were taken to Tupelo that were then distributed in the boxes with the other items that other cities collected,” he said Wednesday during a press conference. “Those boxes came back to Columbus for Helping Hands.”

While it is the fifth annual March of the Mayors food drive, it is only the second year cities from North Mississippi have participated in the statewide effort. Last year, the region collected enough food to distribute a thousand boxes of food after the drive, which is organized by Hattiesburg-based nonprofit Extra Table.

Each city is assigned a specific canned food item to be dropped off at designated collection sites until Feb. 21.

Columbus is collecting canned soup that can be dropped off at City Hall, Fire Station 1 or Columbus Police Department. Starkville will collect canned green beans with drop off locations set for City Hall, Fire Station 1, the Starkville Police Department, the Greater Starkville Development Partnership and the Starkville-Oktibbeha County Public Library.

In Caledonia, citizens are asked to collect canned spaghetti noodles that can be donated at Caledonia Shop and Save, Caledonia Package Store and Town Hall. West Point is collecting dried beans with a designated drop off location at City Hall.

In Tupelo, citizens are collecting peanut butter, and they can drop it off at City Hall. Baldwyn is collecting canned fruit with donation sites at City Hall and Mississippi Final stands Interpretive Center. Oxford citizens are collecting tuna that should be donated at the Old Oxford Police Department Training Building.

Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill said she will be encouraging participation in the drive as it continues through February.

“We are going to put the information out on both city social media as well as highlight it on our website,” she wrote in a text to The Dispatch.

Her hope is that the friendly competition brings more attention to the broader issue of food insecurity.

“I think the drive brings continued awareness of the food insecurity that exists all over the state,” she said. “It is a statewide program with a local community impact.”

McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.