Organizers are hailing the latest Fill the Bus food drive to help the needy the best ever.
Nearly nine skids of food and more than $831 were collected in Chatham as residents stepped up to donate.
Members of Helping Hands – made up of volunteers from Chatham Goodfellows, FreeHelpCK, Giving Hearts, La Sertoma, ROCK Missions and Chatham Outreach for Hunger – were stationed at school buses parked at grocery stores across Chatham Aug. 19.
“We want to thank the community,” said Tim Haskell, one of the organizers.
The drive’s success couldn’t happen without bus companies First Student and Badder donating the use of their buses and their employees volunteering to drive them, Haskell said.
He also thanked grocers No Frills in Chatham, Wallaceburg and Tilbury, Food Basics, Giant Tiger, Sobeys, Real Canadian Superstore and Foodland stores in Tilbury, Ridgetown and Dresden for allowing food donations to be collected at their stores. .
Haskell said the Fill the Bus campaign did well in all communities, adding donations collected in those communities stay there.