(PHOTO: A donation box filled with items to make Christmas dinners. Sarah Anderson. REPORTER. Copyright Rogers Media.)
Surpassing the goals set for the Annual Syncrude Wood Buffalo Food Bank Drive the community came together to donate 84,561 pounds of food and $390,777.25 to help those in need.
Incredible generosity was seen throughout the weekend from people donating what they could to children helping their parents bring in donations to other people checking off every item on the most needed items list handed at the door to donations of dozens of turkeys. This community stepped up to meet the need as it always does.
There were more than 700 volunteers who helped with this year’s drive, stationed at grocery stores across the region, driving trucks to bring in donations, helping unload and sort donations and bringing hot drinks and snacks to the volunteers to keep them warm, an easier task than in previous years thanks to relatively mild temperatures.
The money raised was a combination of the Corporate Challenge on Rock 97.9 and Country 93.3 Thursday, which raised $324,155, and the money raised through the weekend, totalling $66,622.25.
“Myself, my staff, and The Board of Directors would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to this community. In this time of our greatest historical need this community has come out in force and made sure no one will go without, not just over the holiday season but throughout the year,” said Arianna Johnson, Executive Director of the Wood Buffalo Food Bank.
“I have said it before and I will say it again: this community, like no other that I have ever lived in, lives like a village and takes care of each other like family. The only thing that will stand out in my mind about this year’s drive is the overwhelming generosity of this community and the pride we show every time we come together for a good cause,” said Johnson.
The success of the drive is thanks to the community, the volunteers and the businesses who came together to answer the call for need, which has increased more than 70 per cent at the Wood Buffalo Food Bank this year.
On Sunday evening, the final day of the drive, one of the vehicles which had been donated for use by H. Wilson Co. was stolen from the Thickwood Sobeys parking lot while it was in use for the food drive.
As of 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 29, 2015 the Wilson truck stolen from Thickwood Sobeys was found by the RCMP near Tim Hortons in Thickwood. The suspect had not been found at that point.
The RCMP have said they are continuing their investigation and we are confident the suspect will be found and held accountable.
The Wood Buffalo Food Bank said in a release it is disappointed that someone in our community would commit a crime against an organization that is trying to help those in need in our community. All volunteers are safe and were not harmed in this incident. We would like to thank the RCMP for their prompt response to this incident.
The food bank wanted to thank its staff, volunteers and media partners for their assistance in handling this matter. There will be a slight increase in food and cash donations once the Wilson truck is released by the RCMP.
