Amid mounting demand, London Food Bank celebrates record Thanksgiving food drive

Gaylord boxes of donated food sit at the London Food Bank, awaiting sorting and distribution, October 16, 2024 (Bailey Shakyaver/CTV News London)

This year’s annual Thanksgiving food drive has officially wrapped up and community members came out in droves to donate at grocery stores throughout the city, resulting in the collection of over 100,000 pounds of food for the London Food Bank.

According to co-executive director Jane Roy, this year’s Thanksgiving food drive has been “one of the most successful drives because it's been food, and money in terms of what people have given… last year was a banner year with regards to food coming [in], and we’ve pretty much matched that. And then in terms of the money that's come in, it's just come in, and people have been incredibly generous.”

The successful drive is the beginning of one of the busiest seasons for the food bank, with Christmas bearing down on them.

“You know, we talk about Thanksgiving oftentimes as being kind of the start of the giving season," said Roy. "So between now and Christmas is definitely the time that Londoners come through the most.”

The London Food Bank is not the only beneficiary of the drive’s success, it also acts as a central hub - with nearly 60 per cent of the donations going to supply thirty aid agencies in the area.

Jane Roy shared the success of the Thanksgiving Food Drive, October 16, 2024 (Bailey Shakyaver/CTV News London)

According to Roy, demand for food shows no signs of slowing down, “You know, before the pandemic, we were about 2,000 families a month. Now we're just under 6,000 families a month,” she stated. “The need has gone up in terms of last year, the need has gone up in terms of like six to ten per cent. So we're not climbing at the same rate, but we're still climbing.”

If you’re considering donating to the food bank this Christmas season, there’s always high demand for toiletries, personal care items and volunteers.