It’s still not quite what it used to be as far as in-person contact, but it’s getting there.
Cyclone Aid, St. Patrick’s Catholic high school’s annual food drive for Sarnia’s Inn of the Good Shepherd, returned Saturday with an army of volunteers spread across three drop-off locations.
Prior to the pandemic, students went door-to-door asking residents for donations. They still weren’t able to do that Saturday, but unlike the past two years students were permitted to gather inside The Rapids Parkway school’s auditorium and sort the various goods together.
“It’s nice having that interaction,” teacher Amanda Cimetta said.
Fellow teacher Victoria Devlin said it’s good to get the students – they estimated about 50 were there – physically involved.
“Because they’re actually part of the Cyclone Aid legacy,” she said. “It’s more hands-on involvement now, which is good.”
Myles Vanni, executive director of the Inn of the Good Shepherd, agreed.
“It’s just nice to be back doing this, having the kids engaged,” he said while helping sort food into boxes. “It’s been a long couple of years, so it’s good to see them involved again.”
The group of youngsters and teens from St. Pat’s along with feeder schools such as neighboring St. Anne Catholic elementary school.
“It’s been busy,” said Tristan Hrycajczuk, a 17-year-old Grade 12 St. Pat’s student.
In pre-pandemic years, the event would typically round up about 11,000 kilograms of food for the local non-profit organization. Vanni said he wasn’t expecting this year’s haul would be that large without being able to go door-to-door.
“I’m hoping that we can get about 8,000 (pounds). That would be good. We’d be happy with that,” he said.
To help reach that total, food was also being collected at the Real Canadian Superstore in Sarnia and the Foodland in Bright’s Grove. A truck was driving around and picking up donations to bring back to the school for volunteers to sort.
When the event wrapped up – it ran from 9 am to noon – the final tally will stay in the school for a few days before being picked up late next week.
“So that the kids can see the impact,” Devlin said.
Vanni said the community’s need for food has stabilized of late, but events such as this and the recent Construction help stock the warehouse heading into the summer months, when donations tend to slow down.
“What we’re getting now we really try to stretch to get us through the summer,” he said.