The BC Thanksgiving Food Drive is coming to Cloverdale homes next week as part of a province-wide effort to help feed the hungry.
Plastic bags with donation instructions will be attached to doorknobs or left on doorsteps of many Cloverdale residences from Sept. 11 to 13, giving residents the opportunity to fill those bags with non-perishable foods for donation to the Langley Food Bank.
The idea is to make it as easy as possible to donate, according to Langley community co-ordinator Scott Friesen.
Those who wish to donate only need to fill the plastic bag and place it on their front doorstep, in sight of the street, before 9 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16, and volunteers will return to pick up the donation.
This is the ninth-annual BC Thanksgiving Food Drive. “It is happening province wide in over 50 communities in the province,” said Friesen. “No matter where the [food drive] occurs, it goes to the local food bank of that community. In our case, in the Langley-Cloverdale area, it’ll all be going toward the Langley Food Bank.”
Last year the food drive collected 476,000 lbs of food across the province, with 5,000 volunteers collecting from 250,000 homes.
This year, the goal is to collect 600,000 lbs of food.
“We’re all familiar with the food drives at Christmas, which is fantastic,” said Friesen. “But sometimes, in other parts of the year, donations and contributions are down.”
“Our focus is to help fill those food banks before Thanksgiving,” he said.
Friesen said volunteers will go out to more than 20,000 homes in Langley and Cloverdale this September.
“Our long term goal is to be able to hit every home in Langley and in Cloverdale,” said Friesen.
Although the food drive won’t hit every Cloverdale home, Friesen said a “large portion” of Cloverdale homes will receive the bags.
For Cloverdale residents who would like to donate, but don’t receive a donation drive bag, there will also be donation points at local Save-On-Foods stores on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 16.
Community members can drop off donations between 9 a.m. and noon at the following locations:
- Save-On-Foods Cloverdale Crossing, 17745 64th Ave.
- Save-On-Foods Clayton, 18710 Fraser Highway
- Save-On-Foods Willoughby, #1 – 20255 64th Ave.
- Save-On-Foods Downtown Langley, 20151 Fraser Highway
All non-perishable items are accepted. The items that are most needed are canned meat and fish, canned fruit and vegetables, pasta sauce and peanut butter.
For more information, visit bctfooddrive.org.
