Joe Rich Firefighters collect donations for 18th annual Community Food Drive

The Joe Rich Fire Department held their 18^th annual Community Food Drive on Sunday.

Over 20 firefighters went out into the snow door to door, collecting food and financial donations for the Central Okanagan Food Bank.

“A lot of our guys look forward to this every year,” expressed Joe Rich Fire Chief, Aaron Volk. “Most of our members joined to contribute to the community, so that’s really what they want to do, and they enjoy stuff like this.”

Last year, firefighters collected over 1100 kilograms of food and over $2,000 for the food bank. Volk says for a small community, the residents of Joe Rich show up in a big way.

“That’s a lot for about 500 houses,” said Volk. “We’re mostly rural acreages out here, so I think we punch well above our weight class with what we contribute to the food bank every year.”

On Thursday, the Central Okanagan Food Bank began distributing their holiday food hampers. In just one year, the food bank says they’ve had a 25 per cent increase in demand.

“I think this year with the inflation and cost of food, there’s a lot of people hurting, so I’m hoping people will be as generous or maybe even more generous if they can this year,” said Volk.

The firefighters will sort the donations and deliver them on Monday morning.