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Food drive this weekend

August 11, 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Jasen Obermeyer

The Orangeville Food Bank will be hosting their second annual community-wide food drive this weekend, accepting donations to help cover the rest of the summer.

The food drive will take place this Saturday (August 12) from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Volunteers will be accepting donations of food and money at Walmart, Zehrs, FreshCo, No Frills and Sobeys, along with Harmony Whole Foods Market and Shoppers Drug Mart on Broadway. Members of Orangeville Police Service and the Rotary Club of Orangeville will also be volunteering for donations, along with student volunteers.

The Food Bank is looking to raise more than last year’s total, aiming at 8,500 to 9,000 pounds of food. They’re looking for “the same kinds of foods that you would buy your family, the same thing that sits on your dinner table,” says Heather Hayes, the food bank’s executive director. This includes fresh and perishable foods, fruit, rice, peanut butter, and any kind of school snacks for kids. Volunteers will also be giving out pamphlets for their “most wanted” food and additional ways to help out.

Ms. Hayes says the food bank is very excited for this food drive, and has been planning and organizing this for a couple of months. “Before last year we had never done a food drive, I don’t think, that was all-encompassing, that took in the whole community, so for us this is a really big deal.”

She explained that as the summer months see a decrease in donations, they’re hoping this food derive can carry them just in time for Thanksgiving, when the food bank “starts coming back into people’s minds.”

Ms. Hayes added that this food drive gives people an opportunity to give back, describing Orangeville as a “unique blend” of urban and rural, with a “strong sense of community. … It means that people really take it seriously when we take care of our own.”

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