Send a bunch of realtors out to canvass a neighborhood, and you never know what they’ll bring back to the office.

At Abek Real Estate, it was 500 bags of donated food.

Agents at the 7-year-old Slidell company decided early in November they wanted to do something to help the community. A couple of them had been involved in similar projects prior to joining the Abek team and suggested it during a recent brainstorming meeting. David Stewart organized food drives while in a fraternity at the University of Southern Mississippi, and Brenda Scofield participated in several such events when she worked at Elmwood Hospital.

Several members of the Abek Real Estate team are pictured with the Rev. Eugene Wellington of Community Christian Concern and some of the 500 bags of food collected for the agency. From left are Carol Richard, Jenni Dillon, Greg Dillon, Lorna Evans, Lynn Piere, Angela Dillon, Bruce Bass, Beth Kobeszko, Wellington, Brenda Scofield, David Stewart Jr., Janet Robel, Dean Clinard, Gonzalo Inchausty and Debbie McCaslin. (Staff Photo by Anne Lautzenheiser)

About 20 agents took part in the food drive. Each chose a neighborhood in their territory and passed out grocery bags the weekend of Nov. 8.

“We left it on their front doorstep, with a letter telling residents we would pick it up the following weekend,” said Angela Dillon, Abek’s office manager. “We wanted to make it as easy as possible for people to contribute.”

The food was donated to Community Christian Concern, a local nonprofit agency that serves disadvantaged families in the area. The company chose CCC because it partners with several different churches of different denominations, civic groups and businesses to help those in need.

Local supermarkets such as Rouse’s and Winn-Dixie contributed to the effort, donating all of the grocery bags used to collect the non-perishable items. In addition to food, over $250 in checks and gift cards were collected as well.

Dillon said all Abek employees helped with the food drive in some fashion. Those who didn’t collect food helped pack the bags or get them organized for CCC to pick up. Others donated money out of their own pocket, too. The staff was thrilled with the response and hopes to make it an annual project.

“People all over Slidell really opened their hearts, and hopefully even more will do so next year,” Dillon said.

Abek owner Beth Kobeszko agreed and said she hopes to do several charitable events a year as a way of giving back to the community that helped the company grow.

When CCC arrived to pick up the bags on Nov. 18, Executive Director Rev. Eugene Wellington couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the hundreds of bags lined up in front of the building. He said his group had not seen a food drive so successful since before Hurricane Katrina, and he waded into the sea of brown paper to try and absorb what he was seeing.

“I pulled up and thought someone had planted a huge bunch of flowers on the steps,” he said. “Very seldom am I at a loss for words, but this is tremendous.”