Photo Credit: Grande Prairie Food Drive Facebook page.

By Shane Clausing

food drive

Rotary Clubs of Grande Prairie annual community food drive goes Sept. 21

Sep 13, 2021 | 1:30 PM

The Rotary Clubs of Grande Prairie are once again conducting their annual food drive to help collect non-perishable food items for the Grande Prairie and Area Salvation Army food bank.

What started out as a small event 30 years ago has turned into a large community event where during a normal year, over 1,000 volunteers go door to door to ask for donations to help feed people in need.

Captain Peter Kim with the Grande Prairie Salvation Army says this is one of their biggest events of the year and is critical for those in need.

“This event is essential for our community because so many people are in desperate need of food,” he said. “In 2020, we had 6,588 individuals use the food bank in Grande Prairie last year, 44 per cent of those people were children.”

According to Kim, the food bank also saw a 63 per cent increase in the number of food hampers given out to members in the community in 2020. He suggests the reason for such a large increase was the COVID-19 pandemic.

While this year the economy is back open and most restrictions are lifted, Kim tells EveythingGP it’s important for the Salvation Army and Rotary Clubs to continue to ensure those shelves are stocked.

“We still see the need all throughout, and that’s why we want to be prepared for any contingency. We (want) to always have food available for those who are needing that help,” he said.

While it was done virtually last year, 2020’s food drive was a success.

With the online model working so well last year, Kim says they’ve decided to bring it back.

“The fun part about the gpfooddrive.ca website is that people can actually pick out a full or half hamper and (pay) the value of that. That’s their donation and we are able to use that to feed the families that are in need.”

He adds they also have plans to have an in-person event on September 21.

“We also wanted to have that little bit of community feel that we’ve had in the past. With the restrictions, we realized it might be easier if people brought food to us and then we can grab it from their cars and trucks and we can do it safely. It’s a reverse food drive in a sense.”

The food drop-off event will be happening at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church from 4-7 p.m. Kim mentioned there is also a chance there will be some food trucks onsite and several small community activities for people to take part in.

Kim mentioned the goal for this year is to raise over $75,000 for the food bank.

Information on the food drive will continue to be provided on the food drive’s Facebook page.