Monday, April 08, 2019 [Fort McMurray, Alberta] – The 5th Annual Servus Spring Food Drive took place this past weekend with the goal of raising funds and food donations for families across the Wood Buffalo region, ensuring no one goes hungry this spring and summer.
Over the course of two days from Saturday, April 6th to Sunday, April 7th, volunteers were stationed at all local grocery stores in Fort McMurray, as well as Walmart and the Anzac Grocery store, collecting donations for the Wood Buffalo Food Bank (WBFB). Even though the weekend had some chilly temperatures and snow, it was a successful event.
The 2019 Servus Spring Food Drive raised a grand total of $13,742 in monetary donations, and 39,325lbs pounds of food, not quite reaching the goals of $25,000 and 40,000lbs. However, with the incredible support that has occurred with numerous fundraisers and donations over the previous month this is not seen as a concern.
“Over the past month we had a large increase in donations due to a viral post of an empty shelf, so we know that our community has already been giving so much lately,” says Dan Edwards, Executive Director. “We are not worried about not having met our goals, because we know that we have such a large support base in the region, and we want to thank everyone who has been donating so generously leading up to this event. It is with your generosity that we are able to feed those families in Wood Buffalo who are in need.”
The WBFB would also like to extend a huge thank you to all the volunteers who stepped up to fill all those much-needed shifts as this event could not happen without all those extra hands. Many volunteers took on extra shifts and jumped in last minute to help, and the WBFB can not thank you enough. Also, a special shout-out to Finning, Servus Credit Union, Northstar Ford, Leon’s Heavy Equipment, and Aurora Vet Clinic for providing many staff members throughout the weekend! And thank you to the many youth teams that were seen out there in front of the stores.
Thank you to Servus Credit Union as Title Sponsor and a large part of making this happen; Hertz for joining on for the second year as the Vehicle Sponsor and providing all the trucks and hospitality vehicles for the event; Starbucks for providing the warm beverages for all volunteers; and 91.1 The Bridge as the media sponsor who helped spread the word. And thank you to Printing Unlimited for creating the banners. The impact the community makes on the success of this event is enormous.
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For more information, please contact:
Anna Noble
Communications and Development Coordinator
Wood Buffalo Food Bank Association
Tel: 780-743-1125 ext.228 Email: [email protected]