Expired parking meters are helping feed the hungry in Kentucky.

For the second year in a row, people in Lexington can pay their parking fines with canned goods for local food banks.

Parking violators can donate 14-15 ounce cans of food for a typical $15 dollar parking fine. If it’s a more expensive infraction, the city’s parking authority is willing to accept even more cans.

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The “Food for Fines” program runs through December 15.

In 2015 alone, the innovative effort took in 6,200 cans of food for more than 600 citations — worth about $14,000. Collectively, the program has gathered about 16,000 meals, which is about 24,500 cans of food weighing 12 tons.

Serve Up Some Positivity: Click To Share – OR, (Photo: Charleston’s TheDigitel, CC; Salvation Army USA West, CC)