PORT HARDY—The BC Thanksgiving Food Drive returns to the North Island next week for the second year, and organizers hope local residents are as generous as they were during the inaugural drive in 2011.
Hundreds of individuals require assistance in the North Island Region from the Port Hardy Food bank on a weekly basis. Meeting this demand requires a continuing stream of contributions from the general public. The BCTFD is a province-wide initiative organized to stock local food banks with essential items for those using their resources.
Drew Neilson, the North Island Chair, reported more than 1,500 pounds of food donations to the food bank last September.
“We had phenomenal success across the province last year, in total we were able to collect some 250,000 pounds of food," said Andrew Rolfson, BCTFD Executive Director. "And we’ve set our sights even higher this year by expanding our collection routes and reaching out to additional community partners.”
Local BCTFD volunteers will be delivering donation bags to residential addresses in Port Hardy during the second week of September. Those who receive a bag and wish to donate should simply fill it with non-perishable food items and leave it on their front step before 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 15. The bags will be picked up that day and delivered to Harvest Food Bank for local distribution.
“We anticipate having more than 6,000 volunteers throughout the province this year,” says Rolfson. “We know many people wish to help, whether by volunteering or donating food. We welcome all who wish to participate, and hope we’ll be able to surpass last year’s results.”
Harvest Food Bank is heavily reliant on the support of local residents. All types of non-perishable food items are needed for the food drive. For more information on the BC Thanksgiving Food Drive, please visit bctfooddrive.org.
Established in 2009 in Burnaby as a local effort to serve those in need of food bank services , the BCTFD has now expanded to include dozens of partner organizations and food banks serving some 50 communities throughout the province. Its fundamental purpose is to raise material and financial support for local food banks. For more information, visit bctfooddrive.org.