As part of the North Whidbey Help House’s Christmas in July, the Oak Harbor police and fire departments are holding a competitive food drive.

The food drive is running now through July 31.

The organizations are accepting all non-perishable food donations at the Oak Harbor Fire Department, Oak Harbor Police Department and Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce.

Because it is a competition, donors are encouraged to give their food contributions to whichever department they want to win.

The winners will have a department uniform made for police officer Jen Gravel’s donkey Odie, who will then wear the uniform during Oak Harbor’s National Night Out, scheduled for Aug. 5.

The food drive was organized by police officer Jennifer Yzaguirre.

“We have good competition between us,” Fire Chief Ray Merrill said, adding that he’s confident that his department will win the competition.

Gravel has other ideas, however. She said that, because people seem to tend to like the fire department more, people will want the police department to win.

Ultimately, she predicted, the donkey will be wearing a police uniform instead of a fireman’s uniform.

“So, hopefully, that will get people to donate more so that law enforcement wins,” Gravel said.

The winner of the competition will be determined by the number of food items donated on behalf of the departments, not necessarily the heaviest amount of items, Merrill said.

There’s no specific goal for how much food is collected in mind, “just as much as we possibly can,” Merrill said.

“We want to get as much food as possible for this food drive,” Gravel said.

Merrill said the winner will be revealed during the National Night Out event when Odie makes his first public appearance in his new uniform.

“I think it’ll be fun,” Merrill said.

“It’s definitely for a good cause.”