With wildfires raging across the province again this summer, demand for community aid services has spiked in recent months.
The local Food Bank is entirely dependent upon the generosity of the donors and volunteers, who gather, sort and stock the food that is provided to those who qualify for support. Operating in the city for over 111 years, the Salvation Army’s Vernon House of Hope is looking for more volunteers to help in these efforts this fall.
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The BC Thanksgiving Food Drive is a provincial organization with volunteers in every major community in BC, and is currently organizing this year’s eighth annual event, scheduled for Saturday Sept. 15th, 2018.
During the week prior to Sept. 15, volunteers will drop off grocery bags to the doorsteps of as many homes in Vernon as possible with an attached flyer that includes instructions. The same volunteers will then come back between 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 15th, to pick up any food donations left out.
On the day of the food drive, if bags have not been picked up by 12 noon, donors are being asked to kindly make arrangements to drop off their donations during regular business hours Monday to Friday between 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., to the Salvation Army’s Vernon House of Hope located at 3303 32nd Ave in Vernon.
As an organization, last year’s BC Thanksgiving Food Drive collected over 526,000 pounds of food for Food Banks across British Columbia by more than 5000 volunteers — about $1,100,000 in food donations was collected.
In the Okanagan, an estimated 585 volunteers collected 149,726 pounds of food for local food banks.
Vernon raised an estimated 18,500 pounds of food collected in the community. This year, the organization’s local co-Executive Directors of Volunteer Services, Uriah Kane and Brett Poulin, are hoping to beat last year’s numbers.
Organizers said that this iniative is a huge undertaking only possible with the help of volunteers and donors. Donors are asked to give non-perishable food items and to check the expiry dates if possible. The Food Bank has a number of high priority items it is hoping to collect this year including the following items:
- Canned Tuna and Salmon
- Sugar
- Rolled Oats
- Side Kicks
- Pancake Mix & Syrup
- Canned Fruit
- Flour
- Rice
- Instant Noodles - Jello
Anyone willing to donate some time to serve the needs of the community is asked to call Executive Co-Director Uriah Kane at 250-550-0182.
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