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Cowichan Valley food donations total 11,600 pounds

Residents of the Cowichan Valley overwhelmingly supported the local edition of the BC Thanksgiving Food Drive
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Volunteers sort donations to the BC Thanksgiving Food Drive.

Residents of the Cowichan Valley overwhelmingly supported the local edition of the BC Thanksgiving Food Drive Saturday, Sept. 17 by donating food to stock the shelves of the Cowichan Valley Basket Society.

It couldn’t have happened without the 278 volunteers who provided more than 700 hours of service.

They visited more than 5,200 homes in Duncan, Cowichan Bay and Shawnigan Lake, and collected more than 11,600 pounds of non-perishable food for the Basket Society, which will feed the hungry in the Valley with the food for the next few months.

Colleen Fuller, Cowichan Valley Basket Society food bank director, was appreciative of receiving the much-needed contributions from the community and the support of every individual involved.

“We had two full cube trucks of food with lots of variety and the individual bags collected were full to the brim,” Fuller said. “It was fabulous. The people who need this food desperately will thank you.”

The BC Thanksgiving Food Drive, an annual, province-wide project now in its seventh year, collected over 500,000 pounds of food for the over 50 community food banks.

Coordinated on the same day each year, volunteers deliver grocery bags to the doors homes in each community and then on the Saturday drive back over the routes to collect the bags that the residents have donated. The donations are then sorted and packed up and taken directly to the food bank.

The local BCTFD event in Duncan was sponsored by Farmer Ben’s Eggs, Cobble Hill Country Grocer, Save on Foods, OGW Medical Support Services, Artline Closets, Northern Star Humanitarian and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

For additional information visit foodbanksbritishcolumbia.ca and bctfooddrive.org.