Submitted to the Observer
For more than a decade, the British Columbia Thanksgiving Food Drive (BCTFD) has been collecting food for local food banks across the province. Typically, the drive is co-ordinated in over 50 communities on the same Saturday each September.
This year the bags will be dropped off on the doorsteps Sept. 20-22 and picked up Sept. 25 between 10:30 a.m. – 12:00. You can also donate cash online @ BCTFoodDrive.org/donate. A tax receipt can be issued.
Over the years, the BCTFD has grown from an original base of volunteers primarily from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The BCTFD now includes more than 100 community partners and otherwise unaffiliated individual volunteers.
“It was great to see how the residents of our communities came forward to support the project,” said Russell Higdon, a BCTFD co-ordinator in Quesnel. “The success can be credited to our many community partners selflessly working together donating time, talent and means to meet the needs of others — for this, we are truly thankful.”
In Quesnel, 6,759 pounds of food was collected for the Salvation Army food bank, an 829-pound increase from the year before.
Organizers in Quesnel and many other areas attributed the boost to increased participation from other community partners and individuals not associated with any particular organization. One volunteer, a single mother and prior recipient of food from the local food bank in Quesnel, was grateful to be able to give back by helping with the food drive.
The hundreds of thousands of pounds of food collected and the thousands of dollars donated to the British Columbia Thanksgiving Food Drive are truly changing lives for the better, including the lives of the many volunteers.
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