Filling the need

Volunteers for 32nd annual Y’s Men Club food drive to hit the streets Monday night

The cupboards aren’t bare yet and the Upper Room Food Bank manager is hoping to keep it that way.

On Monday, volunteers with the Y’s Men Club food drive will take to the streets of Charlottetown and Cornwall to help restock the food banks supplies.

Mike MacDonald, the food bank’s manager, said this is the time of year when the supplies start to dwindle.

“This food drive is certainly the biggest one for us all year,” he said.

This will be the 32nd year for the Y’s Men organizing the food drive and recruiting what MacDonald described as an “army of volunteers” who will knock on doors to collect donations.

Those volunteers will be out from 6-8 p.m. on Monday collecting non-perishable food items or monetary donations.

MacDonald said the food drive is not just important for the current needs, but also for the months ahead.

“It really puts us in a position to help everybody who comes to our door,” he said.

Every year it’s heartwarming to look out the food bank’s doors and see a line of cars dropping off donations, MacDonald said. “It’s a pretty amazing, pretty crazy amount of food that comes in in a short window of time.”

MacDonald also said if anyone gets overlooked during the food drive they can call the food bank to pick up their donation.

Anyone interested in volunteering for the food drive can contact Bill Irwin at 902-569-3187.

“It’s a pretty amazing, pretty crazy amount of food that comes in in a short window of time.” Mike MacDonald

RYAN ROSS/THE GUARDIAN Upper Room Food Bank general manager Mike MacDonald, left, and Y’s Men’s Club food drive chairman Bill Irwin stand next to an empty shelf at the food bank on Belmont Street in Charlottetown.