THUNDER BAY – It was a record-setting haul during this year’s Santa Bus food drive.
Members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 966 collected 10,000 pounds of food and $2,800 in cash during the two-day event, which saw bus drivers and other transit personnel set up shop in front of the Metro on Arthur Street and No Frills in the Northwood Plaza.
The donations will go a long way, said Reino Pitkanen, chair of the Thunder Bay Food Bank, who said he was blown away by the generosity of the public.
“That’s going to help us out until the end of March,” said Pitkanen on Monday as the Santa Bus was unloaded by a team of volunteers in front of their Miles Street headquarters.
“We’ll be good until then.”
Pitkanen said the non-perishable food drive is key to their ability to serve a growing clientele, which has jumped from about 450 active users per month at the start of the decade to about 1,400 today.
“This is a very important part of our annual food budget. We'll make it to March with the (food) that we have now. Without it, we’d be struggling. We’d have to be paying for all that stuff, starting early in January and February and we don’t have that type of money here for it.”
He added they couldn’t be more happy or grateful for the work put in over the past 24 years by the transit workers.
“This is an awesome event. They do it every year and all the work and effort they put into really pays off for us,” he said.
Ken Koza, president of ATU Local 966, said the public response was unbelievable.
“I’m actually at a loss for words. Last year we did 8,000 pounds. This year we’re at 10,000, plus the $2,800 in cash. It’s awesome. We work hard every year to put on this event,” Koza said.
“It’s phenomenal.”
Koza said bus drivers have a front-line view of the need in Thunder Bay, one of the main reasons they put in so much effort to make the Santa Bus a success.
“Transit operators, they’re going throughout the community all day. They see what happens in this city. They know there’s a need and we stepped up to help put this on and we just want to thank the people of Thunder Bay for all that they contributed,” Koza said. “The same with Metro ... and No Frills.”
