KJH Cares
Through our KJH Cares program, we regularly commit time, talent and treasure to charitable organizations in the communities where we live, work and play
Once again, Christine Fulsang and her family organized the 7th Annual Weston Downs Food Drive in their neighbourhood to support the Vaughan Food Bank. Unfortunately, the need continues to be great with so many families having to rely on food banks due to the hardships caused by inflation and rising food costs.
The Food Drive was held to coincide with Fall Break for the university students so the whole family could participate. Snoopy, a black lab pup from Lion’s Foundation Dog Guides, who the Fulsang Family is fostering joined the Food Drive as this year’s official mascot.
On Sunday October 5th, Christine, her husband Jim and four high school and university students attached flyers to the red donation bags (sponsored by KJH Cares) and prepared them for distribution.
On Saturday October 11th, the Fulsang Family, volunteers from the neighbourhood and a group of 14 high school students delivered the red donation bags to over 2,000 homes in Weston Downs. Although the weather was unsettled for most of the day, we managed to get the bags delivered and stay relatively dry.
On Saturday October 18th, 65 volunteers, including 37 students, came out to help with collection day. Some volunteers went door-to-door collecting the red donation bags while others worked at home base unloading bags and sorting donations before they were shipped to the Vaughan Food Bank, removing flyers from the bags and prepping for next year. In addition, two Crime Prevention Officers from York Region Police joined the Food Drive and assisted at home base. Their recognition and support of our community initiative was greatly appreciated. It was also nice to have extra help to unload bags and sort donations.
This year, KJH Cares sponsored t-shirts for the volunteers – same colour and design as the donation bags. Volunteers wore the t-shirts when handing out the donation bags – making it easier for us to spot them during drop off. Feedback from the volunteers was that the t-shirts helped to get residents to answer the door – in the age of doorbell cameras, residents could see that the person at their door was there about the food drive.
Thankfully, Mother Nature was very good to us! We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day to be outside – dry and blue skies!
The Vaughan Food Bank sent their new truck again this year. The truck can hold eight pallets and has a hoist that allows us to transfer the donations from the bags to the melon boxes at street level.
We set up a “drive thru” style delivery area. Once donations were collected and returned to home base, the food was unpacked and sorted into major categories. When the melon boxes were full, they were loaded on the truck. The large truck made three fully loaded trips, and the small truck made two. In addition, the Fulsang Family made a trip to the Vaughan Food Bank with a full load in their SUV with the donations they collected after the food drive wrapped up. In total, we collected 41 melon boxes of donations – which equates to approximately 30,750 lbs. We also collected over $7,200 in monetary donations.
The Vaughan Food Bank was impressed by the results and grateful to the Weston Downs community. The community’s generosity was overwhelming, and plans are already underway for next year, with ideas on how to further improve the Food Drive.
