On Saturday, Ogden Public Square will be hosting a community coffee and food drive at Ogden First Presbyterian Church from 9 a.m. to noon with the food drive benefiting the Lantern House. Ogden Public Square has also invited all 11 Ogden City Council candidates to appear and meet with members of the public at the event.

Gina Timmerman of Ogden Public Square told the Standard-Examiner on Tuesday that the event is a way of addressing a community need while helping to introduce the slate of City Council candidates to the people.

“Food insecurity is a big concern in the community right now,” she said. “I work with the First Presbyterian Church to do community events. A lot of the time, it’s tied in with civic engagement as this one is. We thought it would be an early opportunity to involve our candidates and they would be able to help us at the event volunteering to gather the food and put it in the truck and organize it for Lantern House.”

As of Tuesday, she said, Flor Lopez, Heath Satow, Marcia White and Kevin Lundell have expressed that they will be present for at least some of the event or have interest in attending.

Timmerman said food items being sought include canned goods, pasta, pasta sauce, peanut butter and other food items with long shelf lives.

She added that there will be additional candidate events to be announced in the future.