EMCS students gearing up for 10,000 Tonight food drive, and can use your help
–Article and photos from the EMCS Leadership Team
The Edward Milne Community School Leadership Program is happy to once again join forces with both Belmont Secondary School and Royal Bay Secondary School this year for our district-wide 10,000 Tonight Food Drive, running on Wednesday, December 13th from 5-9pm.
Belmont started this drive a number of years ago, and it has quickly become the Western Communities’ largest food drive, providing much-needed support to local food banks. With three secondary schools now in the district, a challenge was put forth two years ago to broaden the event even further, with the schools hosting their own drives in order to collect 10,000 non-perishable food items each… in one night. Last year, EMCS alone collected over 11,000!
The entire EMCS community is excited about this massive, community-based event, and we are reaching out to the public in order to ensure the success of this year’s 10,000 Tonight. This year, we have a particular need for volunteers, along with donations of nonperishable items. Additionally, we will also be accepting donations of clean, new or gently used socks, gloves, toques, and other items of clothing. The three areas for volunteering are:
- On Site – sorting and counting food as it arrives at the school.
- Driving – driving students around to canvas the neighbourhood (requires a Driver’s Abstract which can be found and completed at EMCS)
- Unloading – unloading food into the Sooke Food Bank after the event.
Hot chocolate and chili (meat and vegetarian) will be available for all volunteers.
All early donations can be dropped off from Nov. 27 to Dec. 13 in the EMCS front office. Donations dropped off on the night of the event can be brought to the EMCS foyer. As well, there are many donation boxes for non-perishables throughout the community (Village Foods, SEAPARC, etc). All food and other donations collected through EMCS will be going to support the Sooke Food Bank, which supports roughly 12,000 people from East Sooke to Port Renfrew.
If you are not able to get to a donation box, EMCS Leaderships will also be canvassing many Sooke neighborhoods on the night of the event, in hopes of making our goal of 10,000 a reality!
For more information, or if you would like to volunteer for the event, please email emcs.tentonight@gmail.com.
We look forward to hearing from you!
