London food drive tops 2017 numbers thanks to last minute donors

It was a last minute surge in donations to the London Cares Curb Hunger Food Drive that helped the annual event surpass its previous collection numbers.

The London Food Bank received 49,360 pounds of non-perishable and fresh food items. That number is up by more than 2,000 pounds from 2017.

"We went into this thinking the [provincial] election might make it tough and in the end [Londoners] gave more than they did last year," said Co Executive Director Glen Pearson.

Officials said that up to 37,000 pounds of food was collected by Thursday, which means numbers climbed over the weekend, said Pearson.

"London is a remarkable place in which to hold food drives and engage with the public because they don'tlet us down," he added.

Fresh food rescue

Up to 6,000 pounds of food came from a number of participating grocery stores in a new pilot project that allows them to take their surplus of fresh food and give it to the food bank.It was built-in under London's blue box program.

"We took this as an opportunity to remind people that grocery stores are working with the food bank, the city and the Food Policy Council here in London," he said.

"Instead of sending their surplus fresh produce out to the landfill, they're making it available to us earlier so we can it at the food bank and distribute it to hungry families."

Londoners had the option to drop off their donations atgrocery stores or local fire halls.