The semi-annual Cochrane Food Drive has restocked the shelves of the food bank for another season.
“This was the biggest food drive ever,” explained Jackie Shier, executive director of Helping Hands.
Organizers collected more than 1,000 boxes of food and more than $3,000 in monetary donations with more than 500 volunteers helping collect and sort last Saturday.
The semi-annual food drive, run in partnership with Helping Hands Society of Cochrane & Area and the Cochrane Activettes, the group that runs the food bank, was hosted a month earlier this year after organizers noticed a demand increase.
“We took longer than normal to collect this year but we were collecting from a larger than normal coverage area this year,” Shier explained.
This year organizers put out the call for more surrounding community participation, as families living in the western Rocky View area, including Bragg Creek, Redwood Meadows, Springbank and Bearspaw, access the Cochrane Food Bank, as opposed to the city of Calgary Food Bank.
Organizers were pleased to report they collected donations from Bragg Creek, Redwood Meadows, with the addition of a fire truck showing up to the sorting site with donations from Springbank, and also a volunteer from Bearspaw who collected in the Watermark community.
“This was the first time the food drive was in September and organizers were nervous, but in the end Cochrane and the surrounding area pulled through with amazing volunteers and generous donations,” Shier said.
The twice-a-year food drives help contribute to 90 per cent of the food bank’s stock with the last haul stocking the shelves to help the organization get through the next seven months.
Organizers said they are still accepting donations for the next week
For more information or to volunteer, contact Helping Hands organizers at 587-580-9448 or email [email protected].
FACTBOX
Where you can still donate:
Safeway, located at 304 Fifth Ave., Cochrane.
Save On Foods, located at 65 Bow St., Cochrane.
