Guelph food bank hoping for better holiday food drive results

The Guelph Food Bank is hoping people will get into the spirit of the season.

Thursday is the start of the food bank’s Holiday Food Drive. Members of the food bank will be on hand at Zehrs Imperial on Paisley Road and Domenic’s No Frills on Harvard Road in Guelph to launch their campaign. The food bank will also be at the Guelph Community Santa Parade this Saturday to collect food donations.

The food bank is coming off their Thanksgiving food drive. It had to be extended into November as it came up well short of their goal.

“We have so many more people coming through the food bank,”  said executive director Carolyn McLeod-McCarthy. “Then there area a lot of other people feeling the pinch. Those who have donated in the past might not have much to donate or don’t have the means to donate because the cost of living has gone up.”

Despite the number of people using food banks outpacing the number of donations, McLeod-McCarthy said support from the community continues to be strong.

“There are so many people and businesses coming out of the woodwork,” she said. “It’s fantastic to see that there are so many organizations looking to help us in food procurement, and donations to help us feed our neighbours in need.”

In addition to non-perishable food, the food bank will also be accepting monetary donations. McLeod-McCarthy said this helps the food bank with providing families with other essential food.

“Eggs and milk, those are things that we purchase,” she said. “We get non-perishables but we also like to provide milk and eggs as a staple.”

The Holiday Food Drive goes until Christmas Eve.