A Langley church’s Mario Kart-themed fundraisers have provided 10 Langley Food Bank clients with wagons that will help them bring food home.
The collapsible wagons, made of metal and canvas, are now being given out to people who walk to and from the Food Bank, said Jim Calamunce, the charity’s executive director.
He said his own family has used little wagons and carts for domestic chores, and they realized similar carts would fill a real need for some of their clients.
“I was thinking, people are leaving food on the table, because they can’t carry it home,” Calamunce said.
Many of the Langley Food Bank’s clients live within walking distance in Langley City.
But that limited the amount of produce and shelf-stable items they could take home, even when there was plenty available for them, thanks to generous local donations.
He looked into a variety of options for carts, and eventually found he could order the simple, collapsible carts online.
Right around the same time, Pastor Jon Grochowski of SouthRidge Fellowship Church in Murrayville was looking for a way to raise some money for a local worthy cause while also giving families that had been cooped up by COVID a way to have fun.
“We did something called the SouthRidge Speedway,” Grochowski said.
READ MORE: ‘Mario Kart’ fundraiser for Langley Food Bank fully booked
The pedal cart event allowed people to take to a track set up at the Aldergrove Mall parking lot, and also at the church’s own parking lot in Murrayville.
They raised more than $2,000 over the three days of the Speedway event, Grochowski said.
In addition to welcoming church members and the general public, slots were kept for families served by the Langley Food Bank.
The event was free to everyone, but donations were encouraged.
In the end, the three days raised more than $2,000, more than enough to pay for the first 10 carts.
Now Calamunce is planning to get some more carts, as there are still people who would benefit from having them.
Grochowski is looking at another fundraiser that could help out, probably in the fall.
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