'Holy moly!' Last day donations boost Business Cares' annual food bank drive by 34 per cent
CBC News | Posted: December 22, 2017 5:04 PM | Last Updated: December 22, 2017
Campaign chair Wayne Dunn says they raised 435,400 pounds of food in total.
The Business Cares Food Drive has collected a total of 435,400 pounds of food for the London Food Bank this year—a whopping 34 per cent increase over last year's 325,000 pounds.
They'd only hoped to raise 325,001 pounds, said campaign chair Wayne Dunn.
For comparison's sake, the campaign usually sees an annual increase of about four to five per cent.
Dunn said the Business Cares donation usually supplies the London Food Bank until March.
This year's increase means they should stay stocked until at least April, and cash donations will allow the food bank to buy more fresh produce and meat.
"[The Food Bank] is going to be a better place over the next few months because of it," said Dunn.
The campaign wrapped up Friday morning with a ceremony at the Business Cares warehouse on Hubrey Road.
A small fleet of 5-tonne trucks were on-site to weigh the donations and transport them to the London Food Bank.
At last count, Business Cares had only reached 70 per cent of its goal.
But there were several large corporate donations Friday morning.
Golfers Care raised more than $76,000, eliciting a "Holy moly!" from Dunn.
The London Home Builders Association (LHBA) collected the equivalent of 130,000 lbs of food in food and monetary donations.
According to Business Cares' formula, that works out to a donation of approximately $227,500.