Debbie Christian has six figures in mind.

After Auburn’s All-School Food Drive set donation records in 2015, the executive director of the Auburn Food Bank wants to see this year’s effort reach the 100,000-point plateau.

Last year, there were 67,217 pounds of food and $29,402 in cash donations from a total of 15,118 elementary, middle and high school students. Combining poundage and cash brought in, the 96,621-point total shattered 2014’s total by nearly 11,000 points.

Each March, Auburn schools compete to collect the most items for the food bank. For example, Friday is Bingo Night and each donation brought to the event earns a free raffle ticket. The competition runs to March 25.

Christian said she enjoys the various ways administrators and teachers encourage students to collect donations. In 2010, Hazelwood Elementary School’s Sally Colburn challenged her students to reach a school-wide, 7,000-pound donation goal. Colburn, the school’s principal, moved her desk to the playground for a day when students exceeded that goal.

“Each of the schools usually come up with their own things to do to be competitive,” Christian said. “It’s always fun to hear what they’ve done.”

Christian said the food drive is important because donations often decline after the holidays through April.

“We really count on this food drive here,” she said. “This is our survival month. This for us fills in a big gap. We always appreciate the school food drive.”

The drive started, Christian said, with an eye toward developing an inventory of canned- and boxed-food meals in storage. But in recent years, she said, demand has increased to the point where they have not been able to do that.

Auburn’s All-School Food Drive began in 2005 with 45,395 pounds and $817 in cash donations.