West Nipissing schools collect 22,000 lbs. of food for the food bank

Five schools in West Nipissing set a new record in collecting thousands of pounds of food for the municipality’s food bank in a yearly Thanksgiving fundraiser.

A celebration tinged with orange and school spirit filled the air outside of École secondaire catholique Franco-Cité on Thursday afternoon.

Five schools in West Nipissing set a new record in collecting thousands of pounds of food for the municipality’s food bank in a yearly Thanksgiving fundraiser. (Eric Taschner/CTV News)

The students lined the streets of Sturgeon Falls, forming a human chain, passing the donations one at a time into a trailer that dropped off the food Thursday.

Many hands made light work as bags of food were passed from one student to the next.

"As a school, we’ve gotten together to raise money, food and everything," said Grade 11 student Malcolm Kienapple.

Students from Franco-Cité, École élémentaire catholique La Résurrection, École élémentaire catholique Saint-Joseph, Sainte-Marguerite-d'Youville Catholic Elementary School and Christ-Roi Catholic Elementary School went door-to-door across West Nipissing from 4-8 p.m. Wednesday collecting non-perishable food items, other food products and cash donations for the West Nipissing Food Bank.

 "We’re thankful to be a part of it and it makes me feel good. I’m happy to be doing it," Kienapple said.

High school teacher Yves Lafrenière came up with the idea 23 years ago with the help of three others who wanted to organize a school community project as a way of thanking the public for their support of the school.

Five schools in West Nipissing set a new record in collecting thousands of pounds of food for the municipality’s food bank in a yearly Thanksgiving fundraiser. (Eric Taschner/CTV News)

Five schools in West Nipissing set a new record in collecting thousands of pounds of food for the municipality’s food bank in a yearly Thanksgiving fundraiser. (Eric Taschner/CTV News)

"The response from the community is incredible. I just want to thank the community because they’re always giving more and more, even when times are hard, they’re still giving," Lafrenière said.

Every year since 2008, the schools together collected more than 20,000 pounds of food.

The schools were happy to learn they broke their own record this year, collecting 22,000 pounds of food and $4,300 in cash donations.

"That makes me feel awesome," said Grade 11 student Alex Dionne.

"It makes me feel great that we got out and helped out."

Food bank coordinators and volunteers said the large donation couldn’t have come at a better time since the shelves were getting bare.

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The food bank expects the donation will help feed its nearly 300 clients until late winter or early spring.

"We had to cut back a little bit but we’re going to be going full board now. This is incredible," said food bank president Don Clendenning.

Five schools in West Nipissing set a new record in collecting thousands of pounds of food for the municipality’s food bank in a yearly Thanksgiving fundraiser. (Eric Taschner/CTV News)

"We see the prices at the stores. The people in town, they’re facing the same price increases. For them to come out like this, that’s amazing."

If your house was missed, the schools are encouraging donations directly to the food bank on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Cash donations can be made to [e-mail].

At a time of giving and sharing, this large Franco-Nord school community knows it’s done its part.

"It’s a part of what we do here. It’s a part of the school and we all love it," Dionne added.