Food Drive

I just have to share the experience we had this weekend. The past five years all the stakes in Calgary have helped the Food Bank here by having a food drive. I wrote about it on my blog last year here. It seems like our familiy has had a role in it for our ward for many of the years we did it. I was the Activities Chair and helped with it when I had that calling. This year Allen has been the High Counsellor over it for our stake. I find the whole thing very inspiring and amazed at how everyone's little bit of work makes such a difference. It's really an example of how through small and simple things, great things happen.

Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness
in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great
things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the
wise. (Alma 37:6)

Every ward delivers flyers to every house in their ward. We deliver a flyer and a bag and ask the people to leave a bag of food on the step Saturday morning. We then drive around our route and pick up the bags of food and take them to the stake center we live closest to. They have semi trucks there and they fill them up with food.

Before we started doing this the food bank had to borrow money every fall to make it to Christmas when they get a lot of money and food donations. They don't have to borrow money anymore. It's amazing to me. Last year we set a guiness book world record with the amount of food collected. This year the donations were less than last year - probably largely a factor of the recession. The interesting thing to me is that it isn't that much work. Every family delivers the flyers, then picks up the food. The missionaries are at the stake centers helping receive and pack the food in the semis. We probably spent 4 hours on it as a family (our kids were terribly slow with delivering flyers....ugh)....but everyone's small effort produces an amazing difference for the food bank. They figured we picked up close to $700,000 worth of food. Unbelievable!

The email we got said the Food Bank is very pleased with our efforts for the Drive. Their warehouse was empty now it's full. That's what matters.