A community-wide donation drive is back this weekend to "fill the bus" for the Chatham Outreach for Hunger foodbank.
School buses will be located outside participating stores in Chatham for the single-day drive on Saturday, May 14, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Tim Haskell, one of the organizers, said five buses will be stationed at local grocery stores around the community.
The participating stores in Chatham include Sobeys, Food Basics, Giant Tiger, No Frills, and the Real Canadian Superstore.
“Our job is to try to make sure we fill them up,” said Haskell. “We are going to make sure we get the donations into the right hands so they can give it to those who may need it.”
Some of the suggested donations are juice boxes, canned fruit and vegetables, crackers, canned soup and meat, condiments, and more.
"The way the cost of living has gone up, the way fuel prices are out of control, even the housing market. It is most important that we try to fill the food banks so we could at least take the strain of somebody if they need that kind of help," said Haskell. "Our main goal is to help as many people as we can."
Haskell said the committee is still looking for some extra volunteers to help collect the food and school donations. Local residents who are interested can send him a message on Facebook.
"I want to thank the school bus company First Students for supplying us with the five school buses," said Haskell.
According to Haskell, another drive is planned for the end of summer to help kids get a good start going back to school. Haskell said more information about that will be released at a later date.
"We hope we can get as much participation for the community as we can."
