Setting a record
Food drive hailed as a success despite chilly temperatures.
It might have been the coldest day yet for the annual Great Holiday Food Drive.
But despite sub-zero temperature, few if any of the dozens of volunteers complained.
Community Care of St. Catharines and Thorold CEO Betty Lou Souter said she arrived shortly after 5 a.m. to start setting up for the event, collecting community donations to fill the shelves at the organization’s food bank.
“I had to go home and get another warm jacket, because it’s quite cold today,” she added.
But warmed by the community spirit, the volunteers didn’t seem to mind the coldest weather so far this season.
Souter said the food drive included activities throughout the day, including the Reindeer Games scavenger hunt, choirs and donated Tim Hortons coffee, to help participants stave off the cold.
“It’s a really festive occasion,” she said.
Aside from the festivities, the real goal of the event was to pack as much food as possible in a St. Catharines Transit bus, as well as truck parked beside that was loaded up and emptied several times as the day wore on.
St. Catharines Transit marketing manager Al Burrows said the event seemed a little busier than in past years, as he packed boxes of toys, clothing and nonperishable food into the back of a truck, Friday morning.
“We’ll fill that bus in probably a couple hours. We’ll have the equivalent of three busloads by the end of the day,” Burrows added, as he pulled a toy from a box to take a closer look at the donated items.
It was a Super Girl doll, he said would certainly brighten a Christmas morning for a child a few weeks from now.
“It’ll be fun,” he said, as he returned his attention to his work, joining dozens of other volunteers, collecting and sorting the bags and boxes of donated items.
Souter said the event held in front of city hall has grown significantly in the past few years.
“We’re certainly spread out now. We’re a lot bigger than we were before,” she said.
And considering the growing need at the food bank – which has seen a 19 per cent increase in registrations compared to a year earlier – the growth of the food drive is crucial to the agency.
“It’s a busy time and it’s a stressful time and our numbers are up significantly. We’re concerned about that,” she said.
“There’s a great deal of anxiety in the community, and it’s all precipitated I think by the unrest. There’s unrest all across the world, and it filters right down.”
She said the organization relies on community support to offer its programs, and again this year, the community did not disappoint.
By the time the event wrapped up at about 6 p.m., the community pitched in about $280,000 – setting a new record for Community Care.
In 2016, the event brought in about $275,000 in cash, food and toys.
“We need the people who have the ability to make a difference, to come down,” she said.
Souter said people can continue to pitch in, online at communitycarestca.ca or by calling the office at 905-685-1349, or through Facebook.
“There’s lots of ways you can do it, and if everybody gives a little one person won’t have to give a lot.”