Guelph Food Bank looks to reach its goal as Thanksgiving drive concludes

The Guelph Food Bank is working towards its goal of receiving 90,000 pounds of food in its annual Thanksgiving food drive.

The food bank is looking for donations of non-perishable food items, including canned soups, fruits and vegetables, and meats.

Administrator Pauline Cripps said the organization is feeling very good about this food drive.

“It has been going great,” she said.

“The past couple of food drives we ran we actually saw some declines, mostly due to COVID and a lot of closures within the community. But this year we are really happy to be able to report that two-thirds of the way into our food drive we are actually two-thirds of the way to our goal.”

The food bank sets the record every year because it carries them through Christmas, based on demand.

Cripps added that the initiative this year has been driven by the community and a lot more people are doing independent food drives, door-to-door pickups and driveway pickups.

She said even children have held their own fundraisers.

Cripps said the drive has received 61,238 pounds as of this past Tuesday.

And although she notes the food drive saw lot of hesitancy last year in regards to donations, it seems to have balanced out a lot this year.

“There was a lot of hesitancy from the community’s standpoint of can COVID be transmitted from the foods? If I were to donate a can of tuna and I have COVID, is it going to be on that can?”

Cripps said the community can be reassured that the food is staged long enough in their warehouse so it doesn’t pose a health risk before being delivered.

The annual food drive ends on Oct. 17, but the food bank said donations will still be accepted beyond that date.

She said you can donate non-perishable items at their warehouse at 100 Crimea St., inside any local grocery stores in their blue donation bins or at fire halls.