West Nipissing schools come to the aid of the food bank at a critical time

West Nipissing schools are celebrating after coming to the aid of the municipality’s food bank by collecting thousands of pounds of food at a critical time.

Five schools in West Nipissing are celebrating after coming to the aid of the municipality’s food bank by collecting thousands of pounds of food at a critical time.

There were cheers and clapping outside of École secondaire catholique Franco-Cité on Thursday afternoon as the students lined up Lévesque Street in Sturgeon Falls.

They formed a human chain, passing bags of donated food to one another into a trailer, which was driven to the food bank.

Wednesday evening, students from École secondaire catholique Franco-Cité, École élémentaire catholique La Résurrection, École élémentaire catholique Saint-Joseph, Sainte-Marguerite-d’Youville Catholic Elementary School and Christ-Roi Catholic Elementary School went door-to-door across West Nipissing, collecting non-perishable food items, other food products and cash donations for the West Nipissing Food Bank.

“Inflation is a big thing. A lot of people are losing their jobs,” said Franco-Cité Grade 12 student Savannah Lebeau.

“It’s just very important. Food is a necessity.”

This is the 25th annual Thanksgiving food drive fundraiser. It brings schools and the community together, said high school teacher Yves Lafrenière.

Lafrenière and three others came up with the idea as part of a school community project as a way of thanking the public for their support -- and to inject some school pride.

“The school is always eager and the students are really eager to come and do it every year,” he said.

“The generosity is so high,” said Grade 12 student Zachary Dubuc said.

Last year, the schools broke their own record, collecting 22,000 pounds of food and $4,300 in cash.

As of late Thursday afternoon, the school is just a bit shy of that mark, hitting close to 21,000 pounds of food and $1,800 in cash.

However, students weren’t disappointed.

“Anything makes a difference and 20,000 is so much that it changes lives,” Dubuc said.

“We appreciate every single donation that we get,” added Lebeau.

Food bank coordinators and volunteers said the large donation couldn’t have come at a better time since the shelves were getting bare.

The food bank expects the donation will help feed its clients until early spring.

“We used to get 50-60 people come through our doors a few years ago. Last month, we had 174 in one day,” food bank president Terry Clendenning said.

“When you add up all the people at home, it’s just under 400 people that we feed in one day. We also have a lot of homeless people and we have to help them.”

Clendenning said staff will be happily sorting through all the items and will then take inventory of it all, noting there are still a few more food drives to come.

“The OPP always do a food drive. The MNR does a food drive,” she said.

“Without all of them, we wouldn’t survive.”

If your house was missed, the schools are encouraging donations directly to the food bank on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Cash donations can be made to [e-mail].

At a time of giving and sharing, the large Franco-Nord school community knows it’s done its part.