More than 600 families in need across Richland County were supplied with food for the holiday season thanks to members of the Columbia-Richland Fire Department and its partners.
This is a new record set by CRFD’s annual ‘Firefighters Feeding Families Holiday Food Drive’, which is now in its sixth year. Dozens of vehicles passed through fire department headquarters in Columbia on Monday December 22, 2025 to collect free supplies of groceries, produce and meats.
“Each year our goal with this campaign has been to make sure that no family in our area goes without food for the holidays,” said Columbia-Richland Fire Chief Aubrey D. Jenkins, “Our new milestone in giving this year has been made possible thanks to the incredible support of our city and county leaders as well as area churches and businesses. The help of the community is truly what gets our fire station full of food each Christmas so we can help our area families who are most vulnerable. We are incredibly grateful to serve a community full of people who care.”
Donation Pick-Up Day for ‘Firefighters Feeding Families 2025’ – Monday December 22, 2025
Members of the Columbia City Council and Richland County Council were both on hand December 22 to help distribute grocery bags to citizens who requested food assistance. At times the line outside of CRFD headquarters on Laurel Street extended for several city blocks.
CRFD would like to thank our many community sponsors for making this year’s ‘Firefighters Feeding Families’ Holiday Food Drive a great success.
This includes members of the Richland County Council and the Columbia City Council who contributed thousands of dollars towards the purchase of meats, canned goods and non-perishable food items.
Area businesses and organizations also played a huge role in the success of this year’s campaign. Among them were Adluh Flour, Limitless Community Development, Walmart on Forest Drive and Garners Ferry Road, Sam’s Club on Forest Drive as well as Food Lion in Cayce.
