Food Drive

Kirkendall Neighbourhood Association’sbus with people

10th Annual “Fill a Bus, Feed a Family” Food Drive
in support of Mission Services

Saturday May 6th, 2017

 

This year the drive will surpass 100,000lbs collected to date. Thank you Kirkendall. We could not have done it without you!

 

 

 

Event info

Each year 50+ volunteers come out to support this great community event. Thanks to the generosity of the City of Hamilton, the HSR and ATU Local 107, volunteers cover the streets of Kirkendall in an HSR bus, picking up food collection bags left on doorsteps along the way. Donations are brought back to McMaster Innovation Park, our host location, to be organized before they’re loaded onto a Mission Services truck. Businesses, organizations and residents of Kirkendall also come together providing support to cover our Drive expenses through sponsorships and donations. Their generosity not only covers our expenses but also allows us to donate net event dollars to Mission Services each year.

Mission Services  relies on the ‘”Fill a Bus, Feed a Family” food drive to keep its shelves at their Good Food Centre stocked for two months of the year. That means the Drive provides food for over 1,600 families and households who visit during this time period.

In fact the “Fill a Bus, Feed a Family” Food Drive is Mission Service’s largest community driven food drive collecting over 17,000 lbs of food each year. 2017 marks our 10th anniversary and the year that the Drive will surpass over 100,000 lbs collected since the Drive began.

The Kirkendall Neighbourhood Association’s ‘Fill a Bus, Feed a Family’ annual food drive gives us enough food to stock the shelves at our Good Food Centre for almost two months. As a result, well over 1,000 families have access to healthy food to maintain a good diet while they are facing financial or employment challenges. This is an incredible gesture of generosity and community building. We are honoured to call the Kirkendall neighbourhood our friends and allies in the fight for food security in Hamilton.
- Acting Executive Director, Carol Cowan

How can you get involved?

Sponsor – Donate – Volunteer

All our 2017 sponsorship opportunities are sold out. Thank you to everyone for their support! 2018 opportunities will be available October 2018.

Donations are still greatly appreciated. To donate please contact Jennifer Fraser at 289-808-2137 or events@kirkendallhood.ca

 

Many Volunteer Opportunities Available!

Email events@kirkendallhood.ca or call 289-808-2137 to sign up or for more information.

  • Food Bag Delivery: Join our volunteer team to deliver our Food Drive Collection Bags to Kirkendall door steps from Friday April 28th to Wednesday May 3rd.
  • Volunteer on Saturday, May 6th, our event day:
    • Help sort food at our host location, McMaster Innovation Park
    • Collect food door to door on our HSR donated bus
    • Be one of our volunteer drivers collecting food in their car along routes that our bus can’t negotiate
  • Place one of our promotional Food Drive signs on your lawn for the week before our event date.
  • Volunteer on our Fortinos, Main and Dundurn Team on Sunday, April 30th. We’re looking for 20 volunteers to bag customers purchases in return for donations. Proceeds will be donated to Mission Services. Two shifts available 11:30am- 3:00pm and 2:30pm – 6:00pm.
  • Volunteer at Mission Services Saturday, May 13th to sort Kirkendall donations. Help get our donations into the hands of those who need it most.
  • Students looking to earn their community hours are encouraged to contact us!

 

 

Looking for donation ideas? Choose items from Mission Services wishlist

 

  • Pasta
  • Pasta sauce
  • Soup
  • Diapers (sizes 4, 5 and 6)
  • Peanut butter
  • Tuna
  • Rice
  • Cereal
  • Salad dressing
  • Kraft Dinner
  • Pancake mix / syrup
  • Baby formula
  • Hygiene products (deodorant, tampons, shampoo, razers)
  • Dried legumes (chickpeas,  beans)

Mission Services aims to use healthy food to challenge inequality and build community.

Mission Services’ Good Food Centre is open 5 days a week and serves over 800 families each month

  • 6,000 children in Hamilton rely on food banks each year
  • 10,607 hampers were distributed by Mission Services last year
  • Mission Services estimates distributing 106,070 food hampers over the next 10 years

 

 

Many thanks to the Food Drive’s ongoing partners

 

ongoing-partners-2

 

KNA thanks our generous Food Drive sponsors and donors

Premier SponsorMarsalesLogo

Supporting Sponsors

Contributing sponsors

    

Friends of the Food Drive

Stanley Avenue Baptist Church, Chris Dunn, Enchanted Chimney Sweeps, Carol Sekleski, West Town Auto, ProCare Athletic Therapy , Paul and Maria Doesburg

 

Words of thanks from Mission Services’ Good Food Centre visitors:

“This is one of the only places where I can get fresh fruits and vegetables. That’s a real treat for my grandsons. ‘Grandma, apples!’ they’ll cry. And if there are any cookies in the hamper, oh my goodness!” – Vickie, grandmother

 “I never had to use a food bank before, and I almost didn’t want to ask for help. Ironically, I used to always be the one saying we needed to donate. . . It really takes the edge off when you can’t afford to look after your own kids. It also helps to keep them healthy, and for that I am very thankful.” – Sara, mother of two

 “When you donate or buy food for someone, you’re doing an incredible thing. You’re feeding someone who needs it. I don’t know what we would do without people like that. They make an incredible impact on our community.” – Ngozi, Good Food Centre visitor

Copyright © Kirkendall Neighbourhood Association