The Mormon Helping Hands Community Food Drive smashed its previous record by collecting 8,145 kg of donations for the Red Deer Food Bank.
“We’re absolutely delighted,” said Phil Stephan, co-ordinator for Saturday’s food drive. “It was a very good participation rate.”
It was estimated that 25 to 30 per cent of the 8,500 households given a yellow food bank bag gave a donation for volunteers from two local Mormon congregations to pick up. In bigger cities, a 10 to 15 per cent contribution rate is considered a success.
This is the third year local the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints congregations have held the food drive and the previous best was 6,030 kg. That was the largest single donation the food bank had ever received.
This year, Shaw and soup company Campbell’s Canada have pledged to match donations. Those contributions will go to the national food bank, as well as the local food bank.
Stephan said this was the first time the distinctive yellow bags clearly labelled for the food drive were handed out and they proved a big success. “It was definitely a worthwhile investment,” he said. Previously, ordinary grocery bags were used.
About 400 volunteers from two congregations in the north and west sides of the city helped out.
In the spring, church members in the southeast will undertake a similar drive.
Food bank executive director Fred Scaife said the church-led food drive has been fine-tuning its strategy each time out. “This time, they nailed it right on the head.”
The donations will be a big help as the food bank builds up a supply that must last until June.
Halloween is also the time for the food bank’s own drive. This year, the focus will be on the south side of the city. As the city grows, it has proven too difficult to try to cover the whole community, he said. Residents can help by delivering bags of non-perishable items by their front doors. Hundreds of volunteers will comb neighbourhoods collecting donations from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Volunteers will be wearing identification tags, and may have a candy bag with them as well.
pcowley@www.reddeeradvocate.com