With Christmas Eve a week away, now might be the time to shop for your holiday meal and donate to a local cause.

The 18th annual KCII Caring Christmas Drive is underway, with the Big Red Radio stopping at business sponsors to collect monetary and food donations that will go to several local food pantries. KCII General Manager Joe Nichols says a new hands-free way people can donate and get entered into our $1,000 giveaway is by scanning one of the QR code table toppers at participating businesses with your smartphone, “You can also register online. So this is something that’s different this year as well as on our website, if you get on the Caring Christmas portion of it we got a couple of ‘Big Red Buttons.’ One is where you can make a donation to the food drive and the other is to get registered for a chance at the $1,000 grand prize that we’ll have.”

The Big Red Radio is broadcasting live from noon-2 p.m. sponsored by Halcyon House and from 2-5 p.m. tomorrow at the Washington Hy-Vee, where you can also ask employees about their pre-bagged donation options.