Normandeau School students crushed their goal to collect food for those in need by almost 600 per cent during their recent WeScare Hunger campaign.
Teacher Monique Stennes-Koot said some families with children attending the school are financially challenged, so the goal was to collect 100 pieces of food for Red Deer Food Bank.
As an extra incentive, principal Hans Huizing promised to shave his beard if they met or exceeded their target.
“In the end, we ended up collecting 689 pieces of food, so today, he loses the beard,” Stennes-Koot said on Wednesday before four students helped Huizing shave his beard in front of Normandeau’s 453 pre-kindergarten to Grade 8 students.
“We feel like we were much more successful than we ever anticipated we would be. Everybody participated and the enthusiasm was amazing,” Stennes-Koot said.
Fred Scaife, the Red Deer Food Bank’s executive director, said the pace of donations is picking up, thanks to Normandeau School and other classrooms.
“Food donations have been a little bit off this year. We’ve been running behind most of the year. We’ve never run out of food, but the stock level has, and continues, to concern me just a bit. But I have faith in this community,” Scaife said.
He is not concerned about having enough food to feed people right now. But Christmas is the time of year when the food bank collects the most food, and the supply needs to last a long time.
“What concerns me is what are we going to be able to feed them in May. Come the new year, donations drop right off.”
The good news is demand has tempered, he said.
“We’re still seeing thousands of people come in. But we’re not seeing those increases we’ve seen the last four years.”
In October, the food bank gave out 775 hampers, compared to 807 in October 2017.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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