Share Family and Community Services asked the community to remember to donate to the food bank this summer to help fill empty shelves and the non-profit organization wasn't disappointed.
In fact, dozens of groups collected funds and food to feed 400 families in need each week during the Remember the Food Bank Campaign and the #OneBagChallenge on social media.
"Summertime is difficult. Definitely, you can see that across Canada," said Michelle Murray, fund development manager for Share. "People graciously donate all year round but we notice the shelves are lower in summer."
To ensure there's enough food to fill hampers for Port Moody, Port Coquitlam and Coquitlam families in need, Share reached out to the community and was rewarded with several hundred pounds of food and cash donations.
The Coquitlam Life Assembly Church donated 664 lb. of food, a food drive at the Shaughnessy Station Safeway resulted in 1,664 lb. of food being collected and a viral social media campaign — the #OneBagChallenge — that started in Kelowna generated cash and food.
The goal of the campaign is to get people to donate a bag of food and challenge others to do the same. Among those involved were the Rotary Club of Coquitlam Sunrise and Selina Robinson, Coquitlam-Maillardville MLA, and her son Aaron Robinson with the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce. They challenged others to step up and donate food to the food bank and because there is no end date to a viral campaign, people can still donate a bag of food to Share and encourage others to do so as well.
As well, Joey Restaurant in Coquitlam is donating $1 to Share for every scoop of Spun Daily Ice Cream sold in August. The special process sees ice cream made on site using liquid nitrogen.
