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Lend a hand, give a can: Recapping Food Drive Week in Revelstoke

Revelstoke Community Connections raised thousands of dollars and pounds of food for the food bank

Instead of going door to door to collect donations this year, Revelstoke Community Connections gathered donations of money and food through various initiatives and participating businesses as part of Food Drive Week.

A total of $12,000 and 5,400lbs of food was raised, during the week of Sept. 19-25.

Over the week, 38 volunteers posted up outside of Save on Foods and Southside Market each day, collecting donations from shoppers as they entered and left the stores.

Cereal boxes, soups and ramen were the most popular items for donation, but many in the community opted to donate money instead, which Revelstoke Community Connections then uses to buy food themselves, mostly in bulk.

According to Hannah Whitney of Revelstoke Community Connections, the $12,000 will equal out to about 6,000 lbs of food for people in the community.

Because of the static nature of the food drive this year, the resulting donations were quite different than previous events.

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In 2019, the Food Drive, which saw volunteers go door to door around the community, gathered 12,000 lbs of food and raised $3,000 in donations.

According to Whitney, often at the door-to-door event they cannot distribute a chunk of the food collected because of Food Banks Canada guidelines around expiry dates, dented items, homemade food or opened products. 9,000 - 10,000 lbs of 2019’s 12,000 lbs collected were usable for human consumption, with the rest being given to local pigs.

According to Whitney, the result of this years food drive compared to the one in 2019 equals out to be about the same due to the large amount of money that was donated.

The Food Bank is currently upgrading their space, moving to a larger building for more storage and distribution capabilities.

Participants in Food Drive Week included:

  • Revelstoke Girl Guides
  • Selkirk Mountain Helicopters
  • Universal Footwear
  • Parks Canada
  • Revelstoke Emergency Health Services
  • LFI Farmer’s Market
  • BC Wildfire Base
  • Revelstoke RCMP
  • Revelstoke Credit Union
  • Revelstoke Golf Course
  • Revelstoke Review
  • Revelstuck Escape Room
  • Terra Firma’s Kitchen
  • The Modern Bakeshop
  • Nico’s Pizzeria
  • Hub International Broker
  • BA Sausage
  • First Light Farm
  • Free Spirit Sports
  • Valhalla Pure
  • Craft Bierhaus
  • Home Hardware
  • Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre

The Food Bank always has a box outside of their office to accept donations at 416 Second Street West.

In order to get involved with the Revelstoke Food Bank, call (250) 837-2920 or email Hannah Whitney at foodbank@community-connections.ca.

READ MORE: Giving a purpose: Revelstoke program helps people with disabilities find employment


@josh_piercey
josh.piercey@revelstokereview.com

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