A fall tradition in London is off to a good beginning.
With Thanksgiving around the corner, organizers of the London Food Bank fall food drive say with the first weekend in the books, the first totals are encouraging.
"We had a really good first weekend, we had almost 5,000 pounds, which is actually up over last year at this same point," said Jane Roy, co-executive director of the food bank. "We had great volunteers who were out picking up. It was a good first weekend."
This is the 30th anniversary edition of the fall food drive. Last year’s drive brought in 67,619 pounds of food, 60 per cent of which was given to other local non-profit agencies to distribute to those in need. Roy said donations to the fall food drive have been trending up over the past couple of years, but they try not to set specific goals.
"The fact that we're up right now is great," said Roy. "Most of the food comes in over this next week and over the Thanksgiving holidays. Even if it ends up a little down, that's okay."
The food bank has seen just over 3,400 families a month needing its service since the beginning of this year. This year's food drive is also being run in conjunction with HungerWatch London, a new initiative that collects information from those who use the food relief programs in London. Fourteen agencies throughout the city are participating in the initiative.
Non-perishable foods can be brought to any London fire hall, grocery stores, or to the Food Bank warehouse at 926 Leathorne St. Fresh foods such as fruit, vegetables, dairy and the like should be brought directly to the warehouse.
The food drive runs until Thanksgiving Day.
-With files from Miranda Chant
