BC Thanksgiving Food Drive

1 in 5 children in the Central Okanagan live in poverty, many attending school each day with little or nothing to eat It’s hard to learn when you’re hungry! Sadly, hunger hits children especially hard, affecting their ability to learn and grow. Since January, we have assisted over 33,000 people, and over 11,000 of those were hungry children and youth. Please support us in our fight against childhood hunger in our city. The 11th Annual BC Thanksgiving Food Drive is set to begin on Monday, September 20st in Kelowna and West Kelowna. As there continues to be a tremendous need for food in our Central Okanagan Food Bank we are planning to go ahead with the food drive this September as has been done in previous years, while maintaining a covid-19 safety plan for a contactless food drive. Realizing the current state of COVID in our community we have created three ways of assisting the Central Okanagan Food Bank this year. 1. In order to avoid spreading the virus in our community the BC Thanksgiving Food Drive volunteers will conduct a No-Contact Food Drive. a. Volunteers will drop off a paper bag printed with instructions for donations to the Central Okanagan Community Food Bank from Sept. 20-24 on porches across the city; b. You are asked to donate non-perishable food items by placing your food donations into the bag provided; c. Place the filled bag on your porch before 9:00 am on Saturday, September 25; d. Volunteers will pick up your donation and deliver it to the Food Bank on Saturday, September 25. And; 2. Inasmuch as every dollar helps, if you are in a financial position to do so, please give generously the BC Thanksgiving Food Drive this year is accepting financial donations online at: https://cofoodbank.com/donate/ or at; http://www.bctfooddrive.org/donate/ ; and 3. Donate at any Save-On Foods store in the city. “With our 3: 1 buying power we can stretch a $10 donation so much farther than the average person, and in doing so, are able to provide so many more households facing food insecurity with a Thanksgiving dinner” says Trevor Moss, CEO for the Central Okanagan Food Bank. “Ensuring everyone has the nutritional food required to sustain a healthy life is paramount within our community,” says Tammie Watson, Chief Development Officer for the Central Okanagan Food Bank. “We are living in a time and place right now where we’ve seen that anything can happen, and you never know if you or someone you love may need this support one day. We’ve had generous support over the years with the BC Thanksgiving Food Drive, and hope the community can come together once again during these very unique circumstances, to give generously in support of those in need of a family meal”