A school-based food drive has The Table Food Bank still counting boxes more than a week later.
Jane Stuart, Manager of The Table Food Bank, says the organization received the donations at the start of last week and probably won’t be done sorting them until Monday. She says there’s close to 100 boxes and bags: a good problem to have.
“It’s an enormous amount of food, it’s wonderful,” says Jane Stuart, Manager of The Table Food Bank. “We were able to not only restock all our shelves and our back room too, but we’ve got things piled up to bring out in December, January, and February when we really need it.”
The source of the items is a food drive that ran in six schools in and around Huntsville through the month of October. Students at Huntsville Public School (HPS), Spruce Glen, Irwin Memorial, Muskoka Montessori, Muskoka Highlands Academy, and Muskoka Christian School collected 2095 food donations for The Table.
“The next four months will be our heaviest usage time, leading up to Christmas and then after Christmas when we don’t receive as much,” says Stuart. “The need is great during those winter months, but thanks to this group we have, I think we’ll get through it pretty well.”
The schools were in friendly competition over who could raise the most food, according to Sarah Thatcher, the HPS teacher who organized the drive. Thatcher says Irwin Memorial came first with 651 food items, followed by Huntsville Public with 451, and the remaining schools collecting between 200 and 300 items each.
She says they’re working on a prize for the winning school, most likely an outdoor hot chocolate and cookie party, but that the students’ efforts come with their own reward.
“The students who helped bring all the food out to the truck were really surprised by the amount of food that was raised, how heavy it was,” says Thatcher. “They worked really hard to raise awareness for the food throughout the schools as well, so I think they were all really pleased with their efforts. I just hope it spurs the kids on to continue doing good in the community, that’s the goal.”
Further donations can be made to The Table Food Bank at 9 Hanes St. in Huntsville.