More than 1,800 pounds of food was donated to the Stettler food bank as students from two schools packed a trailer to help Farm Credit Canada Drive Away Hunger last Thursday.
“We got great results and collected about 1,860 pounds of food,” said Ron Podbielski, vice-president of communications, who visited Stettler, one of 40 communities selected for the tour.
“For a community this size, that’s an incredible amount of food donated. This doesn’t happen without people committed to make a difference.”
Podbielski especially acknowledged students and parents for their support.
Stettler and District Food Bank was overwhelmed by the gracious support, just after the annual community food blitz Oct. 1.
“It’s amazing that the community can do this and be so generous, soon after the annual food blitz,” said Kathy Willis, managing director of the food bank.
“We are absolutely thrilled.”
She said the latest contributions would hopefully assist the food bank to package and distribute food hampers to applicants who need them the most.
“Stettler community support has been fantastic,” said Jon Hironaka, relationship manager for FCC Stettler-Camrose.
“This is a way to help raise awareness for the needs of residents and a way to promote and encourage people to give back to the community.”
Stettler last participated in the tour about four years ago, as FCC alters the locations to serve as many communities, he said.
“I get emotional, knowing children are hungry and seeing other kids helping out and buying food, knowing it will go to those hungry kids,” Podbielski said.
The organization says almost 40 per cent of the estimated 900,000 people who use a Canadian food bank each month are children.
“That’s more than 300,000 kids right here at home who regularly have to go hungry,” Podbielski said.
FCC Drive Away Hunger collected more than 2.4 million pounds of food for food banks across Canada in 2011.