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Penticton’s 10,000 Tonight doubled its food drive goal

The student organized initiative brought in over 20,000 food items for the food bank
Jordyn Thomson
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From left: Michael Carpenter-Newmark, Aasfi Sadeque, Erik Moore, Bailee Ewen are the student organizers of this year’s 10,000 Tonight food drive that ultimately doubled its goal and brought over 20,000 food items to the Salvation Army Food Bank. The students collaborated with peers from Penticton Secondary School, Princess Margaret, Skaha Lake Middle School and KVR Middle School to ensure the event was a success. Jordyn Thomson/Western News

The 10,000 Tonight food drive doubled its goal, bringing in 20,1110 non-perishable food items for Penticton’s Salvation Army Food Bank.

Related: Penticton students gearing up for 10,000 Tonight food drive

The initiative is co-organized by students at Princess Margaret High School and Penticton Secondary School and also included students from KVR Middle School and Skaha Lake Middle School. Students, parents and staff hit the city streets on Nov. 30, going door-to-door to collect donations.

“It was fantastic, just a huge success. There were tons of kids going out from both schools,” said Miriam Leslie, with the food bank. “The total donation weighed 18,000 pounds. That’s a lot of food!”

Related: Penticton Save-On-Foods partners with food bank for zero waste

Leslie said it was great to see the collaboration between the students, no matter their age, pitching together to get the job done. She added that if anyone missed their opportunity to donate, they can bring their non-perishable food items to Safeway and Wal-Mart between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to add to the Fill the Van campaign on Saturday.

“This will definitely help us probably until spring - we do have a lot of clients,” said Leslie. “So it’s really going to be a tremendous help to us.”