The Thanksgiving Food Drive is an annual event that gathers food on behalf of the food banks from all over the Sunshine Coast. It has been growing and operating since 2009.
The province is divided into areas; each has a program with leaders, sponsors and resources. I am proud to say that the Sunshine Coast gathers more food in this food drive than any other area. Last year 24,000 pounds of food was donated to the food banks. Province-wide the total was over 400,000 pounds of food.
This is how it works. Prior to the pickup date of Saturday, Sept. 17, volunteers place bags on the porches and doors of area residents. On these bags is a brief description of the Food Drive and instructions on what to do. No contact is made with anyone and people are free to participate or not. On Sept. 17, trucks and volunteers pick up the full food bags from homes that wanted to participate. Again, no contact is made.
Please look for the bags and flyers attached and please help us again.
We would also like more volunteers to place the bags and help with the pickup. It takes a minimal amount of time and is very, very rewarding. It is just a walk through your neighbourhood to place the bags and helping with pickup on the Saturday morning. That’s it. We need more volunteers especially in Halfmoon Bay, Madeira Park and Davis Bay areas. Your time could be as short as a few minutes or a half-day depending on what you want to do.
The local food banks receive the local donations.
If you would like to help in any way, please call me at 778-838-6039 and leave a message; I’ll get back to you in the evening. You can text me at the same number.
We have had many sponsors through the years and all of them are returning; and we have new sponsors this year. Sponsors provide the bags and/or trucks to pick up the food.
This year the sponsors are: SuperValu (Gibsons), Rona, Gibsons Fastener, Gibsons Building Supplies, IGA Market-place (Wilson Creek), Haley’s, Your Independent Grocer, Claytons Heritage Market, Sunshine Coast Credit Union, Chatelech Secondary School, Microsoft, and numerous churches.
Our success is dependent on these sponsors and volunteers. The food banks that benefit are Sunshine Coast Food Bank in Sechelt, St. Bart’s and Salvation Army food banks in Gibsons, and Pender Harbour Food Bank.
– Submitted by Burns Matkin, Sunshine Coast coordinator
