Businesses across the city are once again being asked to band together to ensure no family goes hungry this holiday season.
The 17th annual Business Cares Food Drive kicks off at 11am on Thursday, challenging companies of all sizes to collect donations for the London Food Bank.
"It's the community involvement that is really going to be important over the next three weeks," said Campaign Chair Wayne Dunn. "The need of the London Food Bank is up over 12% compared to this time last year. Approximately 3,500 families are using it on a monthly basis right now and that's where Business Cares and the community come in."
Heading into the food drive, Dunn said 150 businesses have signed up to participate. He hopes that number will grow to 500 by the end of the campaign.
"There is no company that is too small or too large to be part of this campaign. We do a lot of the heavy lifting by picking up the food and taking it down to the food bank," said Dunn. "If companies can get their staff involved, they can have a lot of fun and at the same time really help people in need."
Last year, the food drive exceeded its campaign goal, bringing in over 139,615kg of food. The goal for this year is just above that.
Dunn is also reminding donors to think about healthy food when choosing items to give.
"The word nutrition is on everyone's mind right now. It really is important to get more low sodium products, fruit, and multigrains, to be a little more health conscious to help those in need," said Dunn. "The other thing is the need for baby food and diapers because we are always short of that."
Any financial donations made during the food drive will be used to purchase fresh produce, milk, and meat for the London Food Bank.
The food drive will feature a "grocery store weekend" December 3 and 4. Approximately 350 of the drive's volunteers will be outside of 17 city grocery stores handing out donation bags for shoppers to fill with non-perishable donations.
All donations collected during the food drive will be delivered to the London Food Bank prior to Christmas.
Any business looking to participate in the Business Cares Food Drive can do so by registering at www.businesscares.ca.
