Town of Sundre officials conducted the town's 5th annual community food drive last week for the Mountain View Food Bank.
From Monday to Friday, town officials took donated Sobeys grocery bags to all residences in town, during their own time, said Jaime Marr, the town's community services coordinator.
Participating Sundre residents placed non-perishable food items in the bags and set them on the doorstep for town officials to pick up on Saturday.
Grocery bags were not dropped off at businesses, condominiums or apartment buildings because town officials did not want to solicit, she said.
A group of River Valley School students, from the school's Care Club, has volunteered for the past three years to staple posters onto the grocery bags before they are handed out, she said.
On Saturday morning, town staff members and councillors volunteered to participate in the bag pickup, as well as Sundre residents, she said.
The volunteers split into groups and planned to make their way around town to pick up the bags, for about two hours. After all of the bags were collected, they planned to drive them to the Mountain View Food Bank in Olds.
People who were unable to have the bags ready on time dropped off food at the town office yesterday for a representative from the food bank to pick up, she said.
“This is important to the town because the town itself doesn't have its own food bank,” said Marr.
“Mountain View Food Bank services our Sundre and area residents,” she said.
At Christmastime, there is a lot of food donated to the food bank so town officials wanted to do the same thing for the summer months, she said.
Sundre residents are able to use the community van if they need to access the food bank and if any residents need a food bank hamper they are asked to contact Greenwood Neighbourhood Place.
