by Susan Hoftyzer
Help the hungry in our community by filling a bag of groceries. The 11th annual Fill-A-Bag Campaign in support of the Kemptville Salvation Army is now open for registration. Each year, our community comes together to meet the needs of the less fortunate. Donations from the Fill-A-Bag Campaign fill 115+ Christmas hampers and serves 35-40 clients per week at the food bank, as well as short term needs and emergencies.
There are two ways that you can support the campaign: first, by filling an empty grocery bag and leaving it on your doorstep or mailbox. Empty grocery bags were delivered to residences in North Grenville on the last Sunday in November, and the filled bags are collected the following Sunday, December 1, starting at 1 pm. The empty grocery bags have an instruction flyer attached, with information about the campaign and suggestions for items that would be useful for the Food Bank to receive. The food bank will also accept monetary donations to the Fill-A-Bag Campaign at http://bit.do/Fill-A-Bag-Donations.
Monetary donations allow the Salvation Army to better serve those in their care by allowing the Food Bank to purchase fresh items and supplies. A second way to help is to form a team to deliver and pick up the bags to a specific route. Routes are typically made up of 50-150 residences and generally take about 1-2 hours to cover. Volunteers are invited to register a team at the North Grenville Community Church website at www.ngccfm.ca/fill-a-bag, or by calling 613-258-4815 x 100. An ideal team consists of two or more people and a driver, and each team requires a vehicle for distribution and pickup of the bags. High school students can earn community service hours by participating in the campaign.
The headquarters for the Fill-A-Bag Campaign is at 200 Sanders Street, across the parking lot from B&H Grocers, in the old Giant Tiger location. Teams can pick up the empty bags, drop off the filled bags, and the received donations will be sorted, and Christmas Hampers will be assembled at this location.
North Grenville Community Church organizes the Fill-A-Bag Campaign as a community outreach program, in partnership with, and support of, the Kemptville Salvation Army. The campaign is also supported by our generous sponsors, who cover the cost of the grocery bags and instruction leaflets and other expenses related to the food drive. The Church would like to thank: Array Hair Studio, B&H Grocer, Brewed Awakenings, Coba Studios, DSI Williams Excavating, Wendy Embleton – Exit Realty, G&S Automotive, Isabella Williams, Bruce & Linda McKee – McKee & McKee, Rekmann’s Automotive, Gerry Seguin – Remax Affiliates Realty, Royal Bank – Samantha Rivet-Stevenson, Sauve Heating & Air Conditioning, Sheppard & Associates and Westerra Homes for sponsoring the food drive.
This food drive would not have continued for the past 11 years without the support of the community. From the volunteers that prepare the bags for distribution, the teams that distribute and pick up the bags, the volunteers who unload vehicles, sort the food, our sponsors and, most importantly, the residents of North Grenville that fill the bags with groceries, thank you for your continual support of the Fill-A-Bag Campaign. We look forward to filling up the food bank again this year.
