Fighting hunger has never been easier
The 2023 Big Blue Food Drive was held on Saturday, September 30.
Our community donated approximately $62,000 worth of nonperishables to the food bank. Thank you to everyone who donated and to all the volunteers who made the event a success!
Consider volunteering for our 2024 drive!
The Big Blue Food Drive relies on over 100 volunteers to run smoothly. Take a look at the tasks below that we'll need help with and consider signing up for the September 28, 2024 event when the time comes.
Flyer Drop-offs (as many volunteers as possible)
To ensure that the community knows about the event and remembers to put out their donations, we like to have volunteers drop flyers in mailboxes in the weeks leading up to the event. This is a great way for high school students to earn volunteer hours! Volunteers can drop off in their own neighbourhood or anywhere around town they like.
Drivers/Runners (48 volunteer pairs)
Our driver/runner pairs are assigned a pre-determined route to collect the curbside donations. These volunteers arrive at St. Vincent Place by 9:45 am the day of the event, and, depending on the route, should be done within a couple hours. You can sign up as a pair or on your own and we'll partner you up with another volunteer.
Unloaders (3-4 volunteers)
We take care of unloading the vehicles and bringing the donations inside, so the unloaders simply take the donations out of the bags/boxes they arrive in and place them out for our sorters to do their work.
Sorters (10-12 volunteers)
Our sorters help to sort the donations once they arrive here at St. Vincent Place. These volunteers arrive at 10:30 am and can commit to the full day of sorting (usually until about 3pm) or stick around for a set amount of time. (We just ask that you let us know ahead of time how long you plan to stay.) Sorting involves taking the donations from where they are unloaded to designated tables.
Packers (16 pairs)
In past years, this has been part of the Sorters' work, but this year we're making it a separate task. Arriving at 11:00 am, packers count and box up the donations. We will aim to pair up packers so that one can focus on the count and one can focus on the boxing up.
Movers (3-4 volunteers)
Once the donations are packed up, movers will transport the boxes from the hall to the appropriate storage rooms.
Greeters (1-3 volunteers)
These volunteers will be welcoming the other volunteers as they arrive and directing them to where they need to be based on the task for which they volunteered. They will be needed from about 9:30 until around noon.