Food bank sets goal of 2,000 turkeys during Feed A Family campaign

Mike MacDonald knows P.E.I.'sUpper Room Food Bank is about to get busier the general manager expects to see about 2,000 families turn to itfor food over the holidays.

"The Christmas season and the winter season are extremely busy at food banks at food banks across the province," he said.

"Each year we see about 2,000 families coming to food banks across the province looking for help at Christmas."

CBCP.E.I.'s Feed A Family campaign officially kicks off Dec. 3 to bring in turkeys and monetary donations for the food bank.

He said thedonations stay within the part of the Island or community in which they are donated with some occasionally being redistributed based on need.

MacDonald said the hope is to help all of those families in need.

"We would be extremely grateful and extremely happy if we received 2,000 turkeys, for sure."

Cash or birds?

People are able to donate money or frozen birds to the campaign, and MacDonald said there is a need for both.

"Of course, we want to get those turkeys," he said. "But there are other things that we want to include in those hampers as well, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, and that's really where the funds that we collect will come into play," he said.

MacDonald said the importance of the campaign is "pretty hard for us to put that in words."

"We certainly couldn't do the work that we do without the support of our community," he said.

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