The Rotary Community Food Bank Drive is still in desperate need for volunteers to help collect donations for the Grande Prairie Salvation Army Food Bank on Thursday.
Chair for the Rotary Community Food Bank Drive, Lori Pollock says at the moment they’re sitting about 50 per cent committed volunteers, well short of the 1,000 expected to be needed to make the whole operation flow smoothly. She says they haven’t faced a situation like this since launching the drive.
“We’ve been very fortunate and never had that come up, we’ve always had volunteers come through,” she says.
“Worst case scenario is we would have fewer people to canvass the city and we would see food left behind on doorsteps.”
Pollock says if they can’t get enough boots on the ground, the already simmering food security issue for roughly 20 per cent of Grande Prairie residents is only going to get worse.
“It’s really important because the Salvation Army has very little food left and the demand for hampers has gone up and up and up,” she says.
“There are people who are going hungry.”
The volunteers will go around the community and collect non-perishable items such as canned fish or beans, canned fruits, canned vegetables, soups, and school snacks.
Pollock adds it is ideal for volunteer groups to have five or six people so there is a driver and there are at least two people on each side of the road going door-to-door as the driver creeps down the street, and any donations can be put in the vehicle.
You can register for the food bank drive here. The food drive collection will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on September 11th.
