Last year, Chanel Craigie was able to fit all of the donations that were dropped off at the Orillia Public Library in her car and deliver them to The Sharing Place.
This year, she had to call in some help.
“I was pleasantly surprised at how much we got, and the variety,” said Craigie, of the library’s family department.
On Friday, volunteers from The Sharing Place drove a van to the library to pick up some of the 1,447 pounds of food and other items. That’s almost 1,000 pounds more than last year’s total.
“We’ve really built ourselves up as a community hub and the traffic has increased,” Craigie said of the reason for the increase in donations.
Local businesses also collected items and dropped them off at the library.
The Sharing Place gave the library a list of its most needed items. Those lists were printed on tags that were placed on the tree inside the main entrance, and staff and visitors were able to take the tags and go shopping.
“We had regulars bringing in carloads of food,” Craigie said, noting one woman “filled up her SUV with baby wipes from Costco” and dropped them off.
“That was incredible.”
The youth advisory board oversees the annual collection. The young volunteers helped promote the drive on social media, and they got to go along for an earlier delivery to The Sharing Place.
“They got to see the backstage area of the food bank. None of them had been there before, so it was really cool for them,” Craigie said. “A lot of their peers have food insecurity. It’s important for them to be aware of what our community can offer and how they can help.”
