Increased Food Drives are Coming to Fort McMurray to Meet the Need

The holiday season is always very important for food drives. This is the time of year when the Wood Buffalo Food Bank leans on the community to provide plenty of items and donations for the needs of the community.

Not only is this the busiest time of the year for giving, but it's also the busiest for receiving. There will be more community food drives and fundraisers to ensure the need is met this year.

Two Major Fundraisers

The food bank holds two very large fundraisers, which are responsible for about half of the yearly budget, during the holidays. The two fundraisers are the Syncrude Food Drive and the Corporate Challenge. Not only do these two fundraisers provide about half the monetary budget, but they also provide about half the necessary food for the Wood Buffalo Food Bank.

The Syncrude Food Drive will start on November 27th and the Corporate Challenge will run from 7am to 7pm the same day. The food drive will follow on November 28th from 11am to 9pm, on November 29th from 9am to 9pm and on November 30th from 9am to 5pm.

The Corporate Challenge portion is a radio-a-thon, which will include both Rock 97.9 and Country 93.3. Companies, organizations and individuals can call in and pledge money and challenge other businesses and individuals to beat their pledge.

The food drive will include the H Wilson trucks arriving at areas grocery stores and Wal-Mart stores. There will be ten locations this year with Save-On-Foods in Stone Creek being the newest location. Volunteers are still needed for all locations.

Fundraiser Goals

Last year the Corporate Challenge raised over $285,000, while the food drive brought in about 58,000 pounds of food. The food drive also raised an additional $72,000 in cash donations.

With more demand put on the Food Bank, the goal for the Corporate Challenge this year is $300,000. The goal for the Syncrude Food Drive is 65,000 pounds of food and an additional $75,000 in cash donations.

For more information about volunteering visit the website at, http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0c4dacac2ba75-20131 or call the food bank at 780-743-1125.