The rain held off long enough for around 70 volunteers with the Haliburton Community Food Drive to finish collecting donations on Saturday, November 22.
Started in 1994 by Ruth Ann (Kelly) Kottwitz, who died in 1995, the annual food drive is not just a eighbourhood tradition, but a family tradition, too.
One of the organizers, Faith Balcombe, was Ruth Ann Kottwitz’s next-door neighbour, and Balcombe and her family have been part of the drive every year since it started.
“Neighbours who were children helping now bring their own children to help—so we have grandchildren involved,” she says. Some of those grandchildren are Balcombe’s own. Her three granddaughters were there this year, and “my daughter, eight-and- a-half months pregnant, was here from PEI,” she adds.
By the time everything was counted, organizers were grateful to see that donations of nonperishable items were down a bit this year, and monetary donations were up a bit compared to last year. The food drive brought in $6,295 and 304 bags of food, enough to fill four half-ton trucks.
“It’s actually a good thing,” says Balcombe. “The food bank has limited storage, and monetary
donations and gift cards are easy to store and allow the food bank flexibility and the opportunity to
buy things that are needed when they’re needed.”
She says the commitment of their neighbours to supporting the food drive, year after year, is
a wonderful way to honour event founder Ruth Ann Kottwitz, and that support is unwavering, “even
in tougher years,” she adds. As for next year’s food drive, Balcombe says she and her family
will be involved again—this time with a fourth grandchild as the family’s newest food-drive recruit.
by Sharon Jessup Joyce