On Nov, 29 around 5:30 p.m. residents of Sparwood may receive a knock on their door from their local ambulance crew, fire department, cadets, and search and rescue crews for the Christmas Charity Drive. The drive is for the local food bank and Toys for Tots.
Sparwood Council encourages the community to be generous with donations of non-perishable food, new toys, monetary gifts, or Canadian Tire money. If residents are not at home during collection, they are encouraged to drop off donations at the Fire Hall, 479 Pine Avenue or leave them on the front doorstep in a bag or box for pickup.
According to Food Banks of Canada, over 850,000 Canadians use food banks each month. That’s enough to fill Toronto’s Rogers Center 17 times. 150,000 Canadians that rely on food banks reside in rural communities. Not all of distributed goods are non-perishable. 38 per cent of the food used by these banks are things like milk, eggs, fresh or frozen fruit and vegetables or bread.
Toys for Tots was created by local partnerships between the Canadian Armed Forces, businesses, and concerned citizens whose sole focus as an organization is to provide toys for children who are in need, working to address and prevent specific problems faced by families and focusing on assisting children up to the age of 12, but many participating communities extend the age limit to 14-16. The program is a 100 per cent volunteer organization.