Inside the Houston Police's Comida Food Drive

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The holiday season is upon us and Houston police officers are getting into the spirit with the Comida Food Drive.

It's a bit different from the way officers serve our community every day - they use an assembly line of volunteers from across the area to assemble a box filled with non-perishable food.

Their goal is to feed those in need for the holidays. It's a goal they've strived to achieve for the past 29 years.

Back in 1985, an HPD officer saw a need was not being met to feed some of the poorest in the area. So a group of officers banded together with help from Fiesta Mart and Pepsi Bottling Company to change all that.

The first year, the Comida Drive helped 600 families. Today, the number has reached 3,500.

The families are recommended by churches months in advance. Many say without this drive, most would have nothing to eat.

And as one of the largest food drives in the City of Houston, their work is not done.

Johanna Abad, of the Houston Police Department's Public Affairs Division, said, "We're out here, we care about them, we want them to know that we'd like to help and just this is really the only way that we feel that we can share that holiday spirit with them."