This Friday (Nov. 24) your Western News is going to be a bit thicker than usual.
That’s not because of being packed with colourful Christmas sale flyers. You should also look to find a very plain, but very important, brown paper bag with red lettering.
That bag is one way to help out the less fortunate this giving season, as the community joins together to support the annual 10,000 Tonight campaign.
Starting at 5 p.m. on Nov. 29, students from Penticton’s middle and secondary schools are taking to the streets, canvassing neighbourhoods and collecting the filled bags left by residents outside their doors. Donations collected are tallied by the students and then delivered to the Salvation Army Food Bank.
Each year, the food bank fills and distributes about 1,000 Christmas hampers, and the items and cash donations from 10,000 Tonight helps to keep the shelves filled as they strive to meet the ongoing demand.
It’s hard not to be impressed by the work by the students that goes into putting the campaign together each year, and, at the same time, it would be hard to find an easier way to lend a helping hand this Christmas.
There is sometimes a controversy over whether it’s better to donate money or goods to drives like 10,000 Tonight, but in the end that’s not really important. For sure, food banks can leverage those dollars and buy more with them than we can, but both help.
And that is the point, to lend a helping hand in whatever way you can. During 10,000 Tonight, which regularly beats its goal, many students will discover just how much they can accomplish when they work together.
It’s a lesson for all of us. We are stronger and better when we all work together for a common goal. This Christmas, let’s all see how much we can help, together.