The Great Pumpkin Food Drive - 2006

Jill Davies of Re/max Ocean Pacific asked her community to show support for the local Food bank and at the same time light up her community with pumpkins this Halloween.

Participants exchanged Jill’s card for a free pumpkin at Quality Foods, carved the pumpkin and brought it with a food donation to Jill’s house on Halloween. Names were then entered into a draw for an iPod Nano.

“Our goal was to collect hundreds of pounds of food, and we got it!

The non-perishable food items and Quality Foods gift certificates started spilling in around noon on Halloween and continued to pour in until after 8pm. It was incredible! ” What a beautiful sight it was when we lit the 124 pumpkins. Hundreds of people came by to see the light up. I’m so pleased with the community’s response.” said Davies.

Jeff Hampton and Susan Somerset from the Comox Valley Food bank were overwhelmed by the community’s generosity. An enthusiastic team of neighbourhood teenagers, family and friends loaded the donations into Jeff and Susan’s van on Halloween night.

Jill would like to thank the incredible group of sponsors that helped make this event happen: including Quality Foods, 1-800-GOT-JUNK, RE/MAX, Slegg Lumber, Cal-Tire, Survival of the Fit, Jane Denham Designs, Laszlo Kardos, the Isenor family, and Dave Robertson. “The support form local sponsors, family and friends made this event possible on such short notice.” said Davies.

Although this event was a great success, the food and donations raised in no way come close to fulfilling the needs of the food bank for the winter months. The Food bank really needs the community’s ongoing support of food, cold weather items such as heaters and blankets, financial donations, and regular volunteers. Anyone interested in contributing in any way can contact 338-0615.