For more than 20 years London Food Bank (LFB) co-executive directors Glen Pearson and Jane Roy have been members of Wesley-Knox United Church (WKUC) in Old South. That means the congregation knows the dire straits Londoners are facing in 2026. WKUC held a rapid response food drive Sunday as they filled a van to help the LFB. “They’ve helped us with food drives and have also sent a team with us to South Sudan for the work that we do there,” said Pearson. “They really pulled in this week for the food drive and so we really appreciate it.” Organized by EJ Lamb, the chair of leadership at WKUC, the drive pulled sponsors, businesses, church members and others to help. “About a week and a half before the Thanksgiving program that the London Food Bank was doing, they were down 25 per cent compared to last year’s donations,” said Lamb. “We decided to do the ‘Fill the Van’ event and it has been a really cool event for the community. The church is obviously involved, but we have renters as the Shout Sisters Choir. The Spiritualist Church also runs their business here as well, so they’ve helped contribute. We had a Halloween Bingo last night and they brought food and neighbours are bringing stuff in, and some of the local businesses were also involved.” Throughout the afternoon people were consistently bringing bags of food and non-perishable items. Pearson believes most of the donated items will go to local agencies. “One thing you know is all this food will be gone within 48 hours,” said Pearson. “The food comes in the Food Bank, and it’s just gone. Sixty per cent of the food that came in during the (Thanksgiving) food drive goes out to other agencies, so it doesn’t even get to the Food Bank. It goes straight to them.” Pearson says every week agencies are coming to the LFB asking for help as cutbacks are happening. While they try to manage that, WKUC is just trying to do anything they can to help. “It’s very much a community event and the community is very passionate about it,” said Lamb. “We all know we can help others, and this is a wonderful way to do it.”
