Cochrane’s April 21 Helping Hands Food Drive had a record-breaking number of donations April 21.
More than 1,200 cases (and counting) of food was delivered to the Cochrane Alliance Church to be sorted and sent to the food bank. The amount collected was the most the organization has had for either of its biannual drives.
“We had the most volunteers we’ve ever had. We had the most amount of food donated, which is awesome,” said Jackie Shier, executive director of Helping Hands.
The previous record was set in fall 2016, with 1,100 cases of food.
“The food bank is very crowded, which is a great problem to have,” Shier said.
The semi-annual food drive provide 60 per cent of all donations to the Activettes Food Bank.
There was a 30 per cent increase of individuals accessing the food hamper program from 2015 to 2016, according to the food bank. In 2017, 2,650 people accessed 997 food hampers.
The Food Drive also saw 730 volunteers on the day of and leading up to the event – a huge upswing to the average 500 volunteers in previous years.
