The eighth annual B.C. Thanksgiving Food Drive is coming to your door next week (Sept. 12-17).
Volunteers are gearing up across the province including in the Parksville Qualicum Beach area where they will try to surpass last year’s collection of 9,000 pounds of food for the Salvation Army.
Across B.C. in 2015 more than 5,000 volunteers collected more than 440,000 pounds of food, worth more than $1 million, which was then sorted and delivered to local food banks.
The goal this year is to collect more than 600,000 pounds, with volunteers visiting around 250,000 homes.
Food banks in B.C. are under increasing pressure with more and more people looking to them for help. Roughly a third of B.C. food banks report that they do not have enough food to meet current demand.
The vast majority of food banks receive no government aid, relying instead on the generosity of private groups and individuals.
In B.C. more than 100,000 people turn to a food bank every year to help feed themselves and their families.
Almost 40 per cent of recipients are under the age of 18.
Starting Sept. 12, from Monday to Wednesday volunteers will deliver flyers and donation bags along assigned routes.
Leave non-perishable food items in the bag on your doorstep before 9:30 a.m. on collection day, Saturday, Sept. 17 when volunteers will return to collect them.
If you do not receive a collection bag you can still drop donations off at the Salvation Army (888 Wembley Rd., French Creek).
To take part in the food drive call the Salvation Army at 250-248-8794 and visit www.bctfooddrive.org for more information.
— NEWS Staff/Submitted by Kathryn Collins BCTFD representative
