Ontario Pork’s sponsorship of a food drive at a Kitchener Rangers hockey game helped set a record.
In total 1,071 pounds of food was collected, along with $4,643.90 in cash donations.
When combined with a similar event in December, the result was enough for close to a 19,000 meals which is a record.
While the Kitchener Rangers won the game with the Guelph Storm, "the Food Bank of Waterloo Region was the real winner," said Ontario Pork Board chairman John de Bruyn."
With help from the community we were able to do a great job collecting cash and food donations that will really go a long way to help those facing food insecurity."
“Seeing the food donation bins overflow, seeing people make financial donations, it really warms my heart." said Kim Wilhelm, chief executive officer for The Food Bank of Waterloo Region.
"We often think about donating at the holidays, but the reality is food insecurity happens 365 days a year, so all year-round events like these are important to help remember the more than 58,000 people living right here in Waterloo Region who are struggling to put food on the table."
"Our partnership with Ontario Pork really means the world to us," said Feed Ontario’s Director of Development & Partnerships, Stephanie Ashton-Smith. "2023 was really the toughest year that food banks have faced, it's almost at crisis levels and we expect that to worsen in 2024. So, any opportunity to have events like this to bring the community together and to raise awareness of food insecurity is really crucial."
