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Thanksgiving Food Drive may have to move due to increased donations

‘It’s a nice problem to have’ organizer says
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Volunteers pack food donations in the parking lot of the Church of Latter-Day Saints in Langley during the 2017 campaign. File photo

The response to this year’s BC Thanksgiving Food Drive in Langley and Cloverdale was so good, organizers may have to move their main drop-off point from the parking lot at the Church of Latter-Day Saints in Langley to accommodate the extra traffic.

“It’s a nice problem to have,” said organizer Scott Friesen.

Volunteers collected 35,000 lbs in donations for the local food banks on Saturday (Sept. 15), a 10 per cent increase from the previous year

The result was even heavier traffic and more congestion at the drop-off at the church, which provided sorting space in its temple parking lot and other assistance.

Friesen said organizers made a number of changes to reduce bottlenecks, but for next year, they are looking at shifting the collection to the Langley Events Centre which has a considerably bigger parking lot.

Friesen said the increase was due to a “noticeable” increase in the number of volunteers as well as the addition of new sponsors.

“The biggest reason for our increase is community sponsorship,” Friesen said.

READ MORE: Cloverdale, Langley Thanksgiving food drive collects ‘record-breaking’ amount of food

He expects the figures for the province-wide campaign will also be up, but the initial numbers will not be known until the last event were held on the Sept. 21 weekend.

During the week leading up to collection day, volunteers delivered flyers and donation bags to homes in the Langley and Cloverdale areas.

Residents were asked to place non-perishable food items in the bag and leave it on their doorstep before 9:30 a.m. on the day to be picked up and transported to the drop-off point in Langley.

The BC Thanksgiving Food Drive started in the city of Burnaby in 2009 to assist the local food bank and has since expanded across the province .

The BCTFD website describes it as “a non-denominational project and is open to all interested individuals, community groups, religious organizations, businesses or others who wish to join us in helping attend to the needs of the hungry in our province.”

Last year, over 526,000 lbs of food was collected province-wide by more than 5,000 volunteers (valued at over $1 million) and was sorted and delivered to B.C. food banks.

For more information contact info@bctfooddrive.org.



dan.ferguson@langleytimes.com

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Dan Ferguson

About the Author: Dan Ferguson

Best recognized for my resemblance to St. Nick, I’m the guy you’ll often see out at community events and happenings around town.
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