10,000 TONIGHT
Door-to-door campaign tonight aims for 10,000 items for food bank
Hundreds of students will be out pounding the pavement tonight during a massive annual food drive.
Now in its 21st year, 10,000 Tonight will see kids from Penticton’s two high schools and two middle schools go door to door on 60 different routes to round up donations for the local Salvation Army Food Bank.
The effort provides an invaluable wake-up call for students who may not be aware there are people in Penticton going hungry every day, according to volunteer co-ordinator Victoria Ritchie, who’s in Grade 12 at Penticton Secondary School.
“We have people who are struggling here. There are people in this community, there are people who are sitting in our classrooms that are hungry,” she said.
“And I think that’s so important for kids to understand, and for the community to understand as well.”
Students will hit the streets from 5 to 9 p.m. and haul donations of non-perishable food items back to either Penticton secondary or Skaha Lake Middle School, where the goods will be counted, sorted, loaded onto trucks and delivered to the Sally Ann.
Volunteers will be treated to food and entertainment while keeping an eye on a running total to see if the goal of 10,000 donations is met.
Drop-off stations will also be set up at elementary schools in Kaleden and Naramata, where residents won’t receive home visits from students.
Brown paper bags have been distributed throughout the community to fill with donations, but plastic bags — or no bags at all — are also acceptable.
Maj. Miriam Leslie of the Salvation Army said the food bank is most in need of dried pasta and canned soup, although any donation is welcome.
10,000 Tonight is the most important event of the year for the facility, she added.
“It’s crucial, not only for Christmas, but it should carry us into the first month of the new year,” said Leslie.
Although Leslie didn’t have statistics available, she said the food bank is busier than ever and struggling to keep up with demand.
“We’ve never had to purchase so much food before, so for people to donate is just a great gift to the community,” Leslie said.
Once the food has been delivered to the Sally Ann, 10 students from the Okanagan Cosmetology Institute will help sort it further.
Leslie is consistently amazed by the social conscience displayed by the community’s youth.
“It shouldn’t surprise me, because I love kids,” she said, “but to see the quality of the leadership . . . is just beautiful.”