Huntsville and area residents never fail to rise to the occasion when their neighbours need help. The 33rd annual Project Porchlight Food Drive was no exception.
First responders and other volunteers gathered non-perishables from porches and driveways around the community on the evening of Dec. 1. As the night drew on, the pile of goods at both the Salvation Army and at Trinity United Church, which functioned as a second drop-off depot for the truckloads of donations, grew and grew.
While an estimate of the amount donated won’t be known until it’s all been sorted, the Salvation Army’s Major Neil Evenden said it’s as good or better a response than past years.
Evenden, who has been a Salvation Army officer for 36 years, moved to Huntsville last year and said, “I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in as big a single-night event as this one… It’s just marvelous. This will keep us going into the summer as far as the non-perishable side of things.”
Dan Collins (top left photo, at right) passes donations from a Huntsville Lake of Bays Fire Department vehicle to Corey Mainville, who passes them to Russell Boyd (top right at left). Salvation Army staff and volunteers (bottom photo from left) Anneke Murley, Mark Evenden, Merrilee Evenden, Ralph Gibson, and Krystal Fuller received the donations for later sorting. (Dawn Huddlestone)
The Salvation Army food bank supplements the donated goods with fresh and frozen produce, meat, eggs, and dairy to provide families in need with well-balanced options.
Evenden said they’ve “been blessed this year” to receive funding and supplies from the Salvation Army, various levels of government from the District to federal, and Feed Ontario to help them purchase those perishable items.
When they receive an abundance of food from a particular source, like a recent skid of pork from Feed Ontario, they’ll share the bounty with other local food banks across Muskoka and Almaguin.
Food bank demand has been up a little, said Evenden, but not as much as you might expect throughout the pandemic. “CERB [the Canada Emergency Response Benefit]. did what CERB was supposed to do. It helped those people who had to go on unemployment…and made it so that there was less demand from that group that you would have thought would have hugely peaked,” he said.
All of this, and more, will need to be sorted and stored away for the coming months. The boxes in the back corner in the second photo are Christmas hampers waiting to be distributed. (Dawn Huddlestone)
The Salvation Army has also been busy packing Christmas hampers—325 of them, filled primarily with goods purchased for that purpose—which will be delivered to local families mid-month. If your family could use a little help this holiday season, they are still accepting applications.
Other initiatives underway or still to come this year are the annual Christmas kettle campaign, which now accepts donations with the tap of a debit or credit card; a toy drive which welcomes new, unwrapped toys donated before Dec. 15 for distribution to local children (the OPP Auxiliary will once again be hosting a stuff-a-cruiser event on Dec. 11); and the Moose FM radiothon on Friday, Dec. 10.
Family Place Restaurant will also hold their annual Salvation Army fundraising luncheon on Dec. 6. Both dine-in and to-go options are available.
Evenden thanked the community and all levels of government for their support.
If volunteers weren’t able to pick up your food drive donation this year, you can drop it at one of these locations:
-The Salvation Army in Huntsville, 4 Mary Street E;
-Huntsville Fire Hall Station #1, 1 Payne Drive;
-Port Sydney Fire Hall, 387 South Mary Lake Road; and
-Lake of Bays Fire Halls at 1007 Limberlost Road and 1230 Fox Point Road in Huntsville, and 12 University Street in Baysville.
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It was a great night, the Huntsville Muskoka Kiwanis Club was in the back of the Salvation Army taking in the food and I loss count at 12 trucks. I think the count was about 16 at the back and front of the Salvation Army and Trinity United Church I don’t know the count there.
We always look forward to help with this event.
Martin Mann LG Div 8, Membership Chair Kiwanis Club of Huntsville Muskoka