INNISFAIL – Innisfailians stepped up efforts in a big way recently to help restock shelves at the Innisfail and Area Food Bank for winter.
In the days leading up to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ annual community food drive, volunteers blanketed the town with yellow plastic bags hung on residents’ doorknobs for donations to be placed in.
On Saturday, Sept. 28, volunteers returned to collect the donations, which amounted to 4,850 pounds of food.
While down from 2023’s nearly 6,000 pounds of food collected, this year’s haul is very much appreciated, said Heather Taylor, the food bank’s co-coordinator.
“Demand is increasing all the time. The number of new clients is increasing all the time,” she said.
Taylor estimates between 300 and 400 people are using the food bank a month from a catchment area stretching to Penhold in the north, Bowden in the south and Spruce View in the west.
Back in the later part of 2022, the food bank in Innisfail was serving 230 people a month, she reported at that time.
An army of volunteers helped make quick work of the community food drive.
While Taylor said she didn’t know how many vehicles the church had picking up the food, it was all back at the food bank by 12:30ish p.m. after having started at about 10 a.m.
“Then I had what I call my A team in putting it all away. They did a fantastic job,” Taylor said.
Meanwhile, she expected to hear Tuesday about how a Thanksgiving-themed food drive by Central Alberta Co-op and an area radio station went.
