As the ladies at Curves Fitness for Women exercised all month, they didn’t have to dream about honey buns because a mound of sweet treats was right in front of their faces – literally.

Today is the last day of the 8th annual national Curves Food Drive, and members and staff at the gym have watched the grocery cart in the middle of the workout room overflow with more than 1,000 pounds of non-perishable goodies.

The women at Curves donated everything from noodles and fruit to something more sweet and sugary like pastries and cereal to be donated to the Salvation Army.

“It was hard working out with those honey buns in there,” Curves manager Cindy Reeves laughed, “but we had fun doing it and it’s going to help a lot of people.”

When the food came in, the ladies kept track of how many pounds they collected with the help of a colorful chart on the wall.

“It’s fun to do it and the members love watching the progress,” Demopolis Curves owner Janet Hunt said. “I think whenever you do something like this, everyone gets a good feeling when they are doing things to help other.”

This year’s goal for the Demopolis gym was set at 1,000 pounds but because they collected more than they expected, Curves staff said they will up the ante next year.

“We are aiming for 1,200,” Reeves said.

“And we’ll get over that,” Curves employee Jean McCarter said.

As an incentive to gain more members and collect more food, Curves waived its normal service fee for any new member who brought in a bag of non-perishable goods and wanted to join between Feb. 27 and March 11.

“We probably got about a dozen new members during that time,” McCarter said.

As the very first member at the Demopolis Curves Fitness Center and Salvation Army representative Joyce Baty only had two words to say – “thank you.”

“This is just a national thing that Curves does and all the Curves that want to participate can,” Hunt said, “We have a chance to help so many people, at a time when food banks are lowest, while we assist more women in reaching their fitness and weight loss goals. It’s a win-win situation for everyone, and we’re very proud to participate.”