Last year, Cochrane resident Laurie Moore sent three truckloads of food to the food bank and this year she wants to do even better, but it isn’t looking good.
Moore has been collecting food outside her home on Glenpatrick Court for the past eight years. Her neighbours have been holiday decorating enthusiasts for decades, making the street a draw for people at Halloween and Christmas.
First Moore joined in, accumulating decorations to dress up her house along with the others on her block. Then she started to think about how she could leverage the people who came to see the display to help others in the community.
“There are so many people that come around to look at the decorations and I thought why not help out somebody else,” she said. “The people of Cochrane are so kind in donating all the time.”
Moore started putting out a bin with a sign for the food bank on it and holiday oglers started dropping in donations.
She said the generosity in 2020 was overwhelming.
“Last year there wasn’t a night I went out that it wasn’t full… I cried, I got so much,” said Moore.
Moore’s house is up for sale so this will be her last year collecting for the local food bank. However, so far donations are way down this year. She wants to turn that around.
“Lots of days I go out there and there is nothing,” Moore said. “I’d like to go out with a bang. I’d like to make this a record year.”
Kathy Tucker is the chairwoman of the Cochrane Food Bank, which is run by the Activettes, and said the group is appreciative of Moore’s efforts over the years.
“She has done it for so many years in our community and been such a supporter of the Activettes and our programs at the food bank,” Tucker said. “When someone takes that initiative on in our community, we appreciate what anyone does in our community, but when somebody takes it on for that many years and put their heart and soul into doing something like that it just speaks to our community.”
It has been hard for Moore to think about no longer doing the food drive, Tucker said, adding she told her two or three weeks ago this would be her last year.
“She was quite emotional about it."
No matter how much food Moore collects this year, Tucker said, her work to bring food to those who need it is outstanding.
“She has just gone above and beyond to help us as an individual in our community. It is just wonderful to see.”
