Belmont Secondary School leadership students are once again doing their part to help end hunger on the West Shore, collecting food items for the Goldstream Food Bank as part of the school’s Fall Food Drive.
After just over a week of collecting food in class, students of all grades camped out in front of the school Thursday (Nov. 10) with the aim of collecting even more for those in need.
“This is the food drive that is usually organized under 10,000 Tonight, which is something Royal Bay (Secondary School) and Belmont did, but we found there was a bit too much over lap and the food was getting distributed all at the same time, so we felt it would be better to have them at different times, so the food bank will be getting food throughout the year,” said Grade 12 student Sophia Benables.
“We do still have the goal in mind of 10,000 items, but we are aiming more for 5,000 since the other school will be collecting food later on in December. The main point is food is so important to the community, and coming out of COVID, a lot of people are still struggling, so being able to offer this sort of thing is important to all of us.”
Throughout the evening, a large team of student volunteers helped sort donated food by type and best before date to save the food bank some work, as cars stopped in front of the school’s main entrance to deliver more and more items.
“I enjoy helping out people in need, and just being able to participate in something like this that helps the community is great,” said Grade 9 student Jess Keep.
While the students will only be collecting food items at the school until 7 p.m. on Thursday, the Goldstream Food Bank is able to accept donations directly, as well as cash donations through goldstreamfoodbank.org.
READ MORE: $25K donation helps stock the shelves at Esquimalt’s Rainbow Kitchen
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