Food drive organizers say thank you

Kelowna and West Kelowna residents rose to the call for food donations for the food bank.

A small army of volunteers numbering over 500 in Kelowna and West Kelowna gathered food donations totaling a record 94,000 pounds (42,638 kilograms, or 47 tons) of donated food to the Central Okanagan Food Bank on Saturday.

As the vehicles loaded to the brim with food donations collected from neighborhoods all around the city came rolling like a caravan into the food bank’s parking lot, volunteers scurried to empty the vehicles and transport the food into the sorting area inside. Tears appeared in the eyes of many of the volunteers. The response to the call for help was answered in a big way by Kelowna and West Kelowna residents.

“I’ve been a B.C. Thanksgiving Food Drive volunteer for seven years, but as I watched the amount of food donations arrive at the food bank, I knew that I was experiencing something special,” said volunteer and lead organizer Debbie Morris.

She was right, as residents more than doubled last year’s donations. A simple “thanks” doesn’t seem enough, but words cannot express the gratitude of The B.C. Thanksgiving Food Drive for the response in Kelowna and West Kelowna.

“Although I’m dead tired, my feet hurt and I could use a warm bath, my heart is just swelling with good feelings,” said volunteer organizer Paige Knauf.

Many volunteers went home tired on Saturday evening, but their hearts were swelling just like the food bank’s shelves. Thank you! Forty-seven tons of food. Thank you all!