Kudos to Surrey.
That’s the sentiment from the Surrey Food Bank, which reached its goal of bringing in $450,000 in cash donations in 2010.
Although the food bank staff were nervous when just half the goal was reached two weeks before Christmas, the final holiday surge, still being tallied, is expected to bring the total tens of thousands of dollars over the goal.
“Donors heard the message,” says Marilyn Herrmann. “That’ll cover us for the next six or seven months.”
What missed the mark was the number of food donations, which were about 50,000 lbs. short of the target of 450,000 lbs.
That means the food bank will have divert some money from overhead costs to food purchases in the coming months.
Although 68 area schools held Christmas food bank drives, that number was down from 100 schools in 2009.
Other private and corporate food drives were also a bit weaker than previous years.
Herrmann speculates that donors believe that money goes further than food donations.
“The challenge is we still need food.”
Still, she’s not complaining.
In the last two weeks, Herrmann signed more than 1,700 thank-you cards for members of the community.
The Surrey Food Bank serves more than 15,000 people each month, nearly half of them children.
For more information about the food bank or how to help, visit surreyfoodbank.org
bjoseph@surreyleader.com