Another successful Big Blue Food Drive for St. Vincent Place in Sault Ste. Marie
St. Vincent Place in Sault Ste. Marie is thanking the community for another successful Big Blue Food Drive. Hundreds of volunteers drove around the city collecting food donations in what has become St Vincent's biggest annual event.
"It’s become an annual tradition for my daughter and I to drive around the city and collect the canned goods for St. Vincent Place," says Shauna DiGasparro, who along with her daughter Mackenzie, spent their Saturday morning collecting canned goods.
"I started volunteering at St. Vincent Place with my mom a few years ago," says Mackenzie. "I also volunteer in the food bank and the soup kitchen as well sometimes."
Shauna, who is also a board member at St. Vincent Place, says the ongoing pandemic and rising food costs have been putting a strain on the food bank.
"The more donations that we can get and the more community support that we can get, we can continue to provide this valuable service for the vulnerable people in our community," she says.
Meantime, Nat Cicchelli, Executive Director of St. Vincent Place, says the Big Blue Food Drive is expected to carry them into the winter.
"We do let out a lot of packages every Wednesday and Saturday to the people in need in the community," says Cicchelli. "The stuff collected today and in the last week will probably last us until about January."
It takes a large number of volunteers to pick up, deliver and sort the donations.
"The driving and collecting portion of the day we had 52 driver-runner pairs, so more than a hundred out helping with that," says Sara McCleary, who works in the office at St. Vincent Place. "Here today sorting, we're at about 40 because our capacity for the room is only 60 so we've got to limit it."
McCleary is the coordinator for St Vincent's "Lunches For Learning" program, and she says recent donations have allowed her to keep up with increased demand.
"With the outpouring of support we've had from the community, including the donations from the Dovigis and Algoma Steel, we're actually going to be able to pull some families from the wait list so that we can bump it up 130 families that we're going to help with our program now," she says.
McCleary and Cicchelli point out that although the Big Blue Food Drive is the biggest event for St. Vincent Place, it's important to keep the donations coming in year-round, especially with demand at the food bank continuing to increase.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Montreal doctors' breakthrough discovery about causes of cerebral palsy giving hope
A breakthrough discovery made by doctors at the Montreal Children's Hospital about the causes of cerebral palsy is giving new hope to one West Island family.
Weather alerts issued for 7 provinces, 1 territory
Warnings of up to 60 millimetres of rain and other alerts have been issued for seven Canadian provinces and one territory ahead of the Easter weekend.
Ontario homeowner on the hook for $27,000 when contractor severed power line
An Ontario man who built a garage on his property has been locked in a battle with his electricity provider for a year and half over a severed power line.
He didn't trust police but sought their help anyway. Two days later, he was dead
Jameek Lowery was among more than 330 Black people who died after police stopped them with tactics that aren’t supposed to be deadly, like physical restraint and use of stun guns, The Associated Press found.
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
Why Kim Kardashian is being sued for 'knockoff' furniture
The estate of minimalist contemporary artist Donald Judd filed a lawsuit against Kardashian this week, claiming the fashion and beauty mogul promoted 'cheap knockoffs' of his furniture designs.
Where is the worst place for allergy sufferers in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Louis Gossett Jr., 1st Black man to win supporting actor Oscar, dies at 87
Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar and an Emmy winner for his role in the seminal TV miniseries 'Roots,' has died. He was 87.