The shelves at the Okotoks Food Bank are overflowing after tens of thousands of pounds of items were donated during a community-wide food drive Saturday.
The shelves at the Okotoks Food Bank are overflowing after tens of thousands of pounds of items were donated during a community-wide food drive Saturday.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints led event has left the food bank's executive director completely overwhelmed.
“It's absolutely, I have to say, mind blowing the huge outpour of support that we've received, the amount of food that we've received,” said Sheila Hughes. “As always Okotoks and area comes through for us when we put the call out for help. They always come through.”
Volunteers were sorting and weighing food late into the afternoon. By the end of the day, just under 30,000 pounds of food was collected.
It is by far the largest food drive ever held in support of the Okotoks Food Bank, outstripping a fall 2015 event that brought in 10,000 pounds. It was so much the food bank's shelves were full not long after 1 p.m., volunteers were starting to store food in a business next door and Hughes had even filled her own garage.
“My own garage is full, some of our volunteer's garages are full, we're looking for more garage space it's that much,” she said.
As the food kept pouring in, Hughes was working the phones to line up more storage space, and there was still more food being sorted at the Mormon church on Woodgate Road left to come.
“It's a very nice problem to have, I must say,” she said.
Hughes estimated it's enough to feed hungry families for more than three months.
She said there was a variety of donations that will serve a range of needs for their clients. It's not just food, but also toiletries, paper towels and personal care items. The drive also refilled the food bank's help yourself shelves.
“That's been struggling for a couple of months now,” she said.
The food drive is coming at the right time with Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner.
For Thanksgiving, clients will receive a regular hamper with extras for the holiday. Hughes said they will start taking applications for hampers on the week of Sept. 26.
Food drive organizer Steve Cooper said the event far exceeded the church's expectations.
“My personal goal was to raise 25,000 pounds and I know we're way more than that,” he said.
Cooper said more than 600 volunteers came out to help. Families took one of approximately 150 routes in Okotoks and the surrounding area to collect donations and more worked at the church on Woodgate Road accepting, weighing and sorting donations before delivering it all to the food bank. At one point the floor of the main hallway and several rooms were filled with bags filled with food, as still more food was being sorted in the church's gymnasium.
Cooper has participated in church-led food drives in Calgary and Kelowna in the past and helped to organize it in Okotoks.
“I saw the impact that it had on the community,” he said. “We were looking for a service project to do as well. That's what we wanted to do, we wanted to contribute back to the community and this was a way that incorporated our whole congregation.”
Cooper said the food drive will become an annual event.
The Okotoks Food Bank was one of many being led by the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints congregations between Reed Deer and High River on Saturday.
Church member Melissa Whitney said helping families is one of the church's core beliefs. She said the food bank helps families and it's an important cause in the community to support.
“In the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints, there's a real big focus on families as well, so this particular service project is a great link,” she said.
Whitney said it also brought families together and allowed people of all ages to work to help their community.
“My seven-year-old is out dropping off bags at the food bank, all the way to parents and grand parents, the whole family can be involved,” she said.
With hours of work left ahead for her to finish sorting and packing away all the food, Hughes was doing it all with a smile and a great appreciation for the community.
“Thank you,” she said. “It's such a huge thank you. We just are so lucky, so blessed.”
