The Hunger Free Haywood campaign is now at its midpoint, and the response has not been what organizers expected when they launched the local food drive.

“Right now everything seems to be going really slow,” said Cece Hipps, executive director of the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce. “A little more than 200 pounds of food has been collected so far.”

For a campaign with a goal of collecting 50,000 pounds of food, it’s a far cry from where organizers hoped it would be by the end of June. The campaign has been going on for two weeks and will end July 15.

“Everyone has barrels but no food is being put in the barrels,” Hipps said, adding there are 32 drop off locations in the county, including one at The Chamber of Commerce offices.

The theme of the campaign — “Give it Local, Keep it Local” — ...