The Royal LePage Solutions Food Drive- How do we do it?

                                                                                       

To make a donation directly to the Bow Valley Food Bank CLICK HERE

Every year in the fall the Canmore Royal LePage Solutions team work tirelessly to organize a Canmore community wide food drive in support of the Bow Valley Food Bank. This entails attempting to knock on every door in Canmore and ask if they have any non-perishable food items they would like to donate.

How do we do it, you ask? 

First, we all sit down as a group to discuss the plan of action. We choose a date that works out for the Canmore Eagles game schedule. The Eagle’s are such a major helping hand as they always come out and help on the night of the food drive. When choosing the night, we also consider what other events are happing in town, the aim is to find a night when most people will be at home.

Once the date has been chosen its time for the fun part, drumming up community interest and gathering volunteers. We need about 150+ people to help us, a growing number as the community we live in is expanding. If we want to make it to every house, we need as many people as possible.

We advertise in as many places as feasible, Community notice boards, Facebook, the newspaper, on social media accounts, the schools... If you happen to be in town in November, its hard to not see at least one piece of marketing for the food drive.

This past year we even added QR codes to make signing up to volunteer easier!

The night of the drive….

We need a big open space to get this done, Canmore Chrysler have been great in letting us use their dealership the last few years. The Royal LePage Solutions team head over to the dealership late afternoon and start to set up. There are boxes, packing tape, maps, Hand warmers (this past year it was -30 Celsius on the evening of the food drive) and lots more to ensure we set each volunteer up for a successful evening.

Each group gets route maps. The routes vary in size depending on the people in the group. People with smaller children get smaller routes. This is a family event, and we aim to set everyone up for a fun, exciting and rewarding evening.

Once you get your route, off you go. You head out and start knocking, this is the fun part. We have such an amazing community and the response at the door is always received so well. In 2022, we donated over 10,000lbs of food to the Bow Valley Food Bank. The majority of that coming from this one evening and a community that cares.

What happens after the routes are complete?

When the route is completed each volunteer group returns to the dealership and drops off their food and monetary donations. We have a group of volunteers there to pack up the donations into boxes and the Eagles then help bring it to the food bank on the evening. Once people are done, they are invited back to the Royal LePage Solutions building for some food, hot beverages, drinks and of course some great company.

It is such a fun and exciting evening, its amazing to take time out of all of our busy schedules and give back to the amazing town we live in.

To make a donation directly to the Bow Valley Food Bank CLICK HERE

Would you consider volunteering for the Royal LePage Solutions annual food drive? Check back in November each year for volunteer opportunities.