Latest donation figures from the Innisfail and District Food Bank show locals have been extraordinarily generous even during tough recessionary times.
Carole Sim, coordinator of the food bank, said donation figures for both cash and food in 2016 were way above those in 2015.
Sim said Innisfailians donated 13,627.76 pounds of food in 2016 - more than 1,000 pounds above the 12,625 pounds collected in 2015.
Although cash totals for 2016 have not yet been finalized by the agency, Sim said the local food bank is already up by about $11,000 over the final 2015 total. She said the total cash donation to date for 2016 is about $54,000, compared to the $43,015 collected in 2015.
"It is unbelievable. I couldn't believe it when we were tallying it all up - holy mackerel. I think a lot of it is you guys working really hard in the press and we made a lot of noise," said Sim. "I think people have decided that we need to chip in and help these people in our community because our numbers are up, and they are probably going to stay up until spring I would think."
Sim said officials with other rural food banks have told her they also did well in 2016, but not so much in the cities.
"Their usage has doubled and tripled in places. How can you keep up to that?" said Sim.
In the meantime, Sim said her agency has gotten off to a good donation start in 2017, including 391 pounds of food and $280 in cash collected at the Atom B hockey tournament that was held Jan. 21 and 22 at the Innisfail Arena.
She said the need is still high in the community, noting there was a 32 per cent increase in hamper service demand in the period of July 1 to Nov. 1 of last year compared to the same months of 2015.
Carole Sim, coordinator of the Innisfail and District Food Bank
"I think people have decided that we need to chip in and help these people in our community because our numbers are up, and they are probably going to stay up until spring I would think."
