The BC Thanksgiving Food Drive, conducted near the end of September, collected 8,300 pounds of food in the Alberni Valley.
That amount was above what volunteers collected in 2017, organizer Bruce Patterson said.
In total, 75,000 pounds of food were donated in the Central Island. “We did pretty good that way,” Patterson said.
The food drive was part of a province-wide Thanksgiving Food Drive effort to deliver non-perishable items to local food banks.
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Food was delivered shortly after it was collected to the Port Alberni Community Food Bank at the Salvation Army building on Argyle Street, to the Bread of Life on Third Avenue and to Food Bank on the Edge in Ucluelet (1,100 pounds).
“Special thanks go to those who donated food. Even if it were one or two items, every little bit helps.”
Approximately 4,000 bags were distributed to homes in the Alberni Valley in the hopes that people would put some non-perishable items in the bags and leave them for volunteers to collect. There weren’t more bags distibuted because the group only had enough volunteers to distribute that many, Patterson explained.
He reminded people that grocery stores in Port Alberni have food bank boxes and people are welcome to donate items to those boxes at any time of year.