STEPHEN UHLER

stephen.uhler@sunmedia.ca

This Saturday, the Kiwanis Club of Pembroke and its associates will once again be collecting food for local food banks.

On April 21, this annual one-day food drive is being hosted by major stores across the city, including Moncion Grocers Pembroke Market and Riverside Market, Giant Tiger, Food Basics and Walmart.

Jay McLaren, food drive co-ordinator, said customers entering these stores between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. will be offered the opportunity to buy non-perishable items they wish to donate to the food drive and place them into a paper bag supplied by volunteers.

"The patrons will be asked to purchase food in the store that they would like to donate to local food banks," he said, stressing there will be no pressure put on the customers to take part.

"If they agree to help us, and once they have purchased the food, they will place it in the brown paper bag and leave it at the door as they leave."

Mr. McLaren said Kiwanians will receive the bags of groceries and then distribute them to the food banks later in the day. He said the total amount of food collected will be divided equally between the Salvation Army and St. Joseph's Food Bank.

Last year, the club, along with members of the Fellowes High School Key Club and the Circle K Club out of Algonquin College, collected groceries worth $6,000.

Mr. McLaren said this one day event on April 21 allows the Kiwanis Club of Pembroke to join its peers across the world. He said it is a Kiwanis International initiative to have all clubs undertake a service project all on the same day.

Mr. McLaren said the Pembroke club decided to do a food drive as this is a slow time of year for donations, which traditionally occur at Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving. The need, though, is year round.

Stephen Uhler is a Daily Observer multimedia journalist