Thousands of local residents have helped feed a need this Thanksgiving weekend, in record fashion.

The BC Thanksgiving Food Drive saw approximately 250 volunteers ranging in age from six years to 84 years of age, canvass Vernon and Coldstream and delivered approximately 11,000 paper bags to doorsteps throughout the community.

Residents were asked to fill brown bags with non-perishable food items and leave them on their doorsteps to be collected on Sept. 25. Volunteers picked up more than 3,100 bags filled with approximately 37,800 pounds of food.

鈥淭his amounts to more than double anything we鈥檝e been able to collect as an organization here in Vernon, from previous years,鈥� one of the organizers Jim Bieber said. 鈥淭hank you so much citizens of Vernon.鈥�

The event, hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, also saw an army of volunteers from the House of Hope Food Bank who collected, weighed and stored the donations.

Save On Foods鈥� two Vernon locations also collected an abundance of food with bins on location.

And this year, for the first time, several schools in the district stepped up and participated in the event. Vernon Christian School, Silver Star Elementary, Kidston Elementary, Seaton Secondary and Kalamlaka Secondary rallied together and collected a whopping 2,000 lbs of food within their schools.

B.C.-wide more than 480,000 lbs of food was collected on the Thanksgiving Food Drive.

鈥淚t was an amazing labour of kindness, generosity and love that was performed by thousands of volunteers and donors who responded to an invitation to help,鈥� Bieber said. 鈥淗ere in Vernon and Coldstream, we cannot fully express how thankful we are to the citizens who generously donated to this cause. We truly do live in a great community.鈥�

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