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#NLFoodDrive launched in St. John's to help fill empty shelves

Residents of St. John's are being asked to help out with a city-wide food drive for the Community Food Sharing Association.
A city-wide food drive is being held next week to fill a huge shortage at the Community Food Sharing Association. (CBC)

The City of St. John's launched its annual curbside food drive in aid of the Community Food Sharing Association Friday.

Residents are asked to leave non-perishable food items on their doorstep during the week of Nov. 16-20.

City workers will collect the donations on garbage day in each ward.
"There's lots of opportunity to participate and we certainly hope everybody will support this very important cause," said councillor Danny Breen. (Sherry Vivian/CBC)

Last year's campaign brought in over 120,000 pounds of food and councillor Danny Breen said this years goal is 150,000 pounds.

"This is an effort amongst council and our staff and everybody pulling together to make this work at a time when we really do need to put an extra effort into the collections for the food bank," said Breen.

Real need

Eg Walters, general manager with the Community Food Sharing Association, said the need is real and this effort will not go unnoticed.

"It's not only the amount that you're going to collect but it's the great amount of public awareness that you're creating in the community ... not only here in St. John's but throughout the whole province," said Walters. 

Many ways to give

Pamphlets have been sent to residents with information about the drive.

They provide food suggestions, information on how to donate and a tag to be attached to your donation bag.

Each bin at the food bank holds around 2000 pounds of food. The city wants to fill 75 of them to reach their goal of 150,00 pounds. (Sherry Vivian/CBC)

Breen added that people who live in apartment buildings should collect items within their building and call the city to have them picked up.

Donations can also be dropped of at any of the city's community centres or at city hall.

"There's lots of opportunity to participate and we certainly hope everybody will support this very important cause," said Breen.

The city will be providing daily updates online and on their Facebook page or using #nlfooddrive.