Santa bus wraps up

Thunder Bay Transit’s Santa bus has come to its final stop for the holiday season.

The 17th annual holiday fundraiser in support of the Thunder Bay Food Bank raised more than 2,200 pounds of food. The campaign started two weeks ago and wrapped up on Friday. Volunteers unloaded the city bus Saturday and brought the various non-perishable foods into the food bank.

Jon Hendel, planning and marketing analyst with Thunder Bay Transit, said they nearly doubled what they brought in compared to last year, which was more than 1,300 pounds of food. According to the Regional Food Distribution Association, the cost per pound of food works out to be around $2.50 meaning the fundraiser collected roughly $5,000 worth of food.

Hendel said it was the second year that they had weighed out the food and so far, it’s the most they have ever had.

“It’s pretty impressive what this community stepped up and did,” Hendel said. “We’ve seen a lot of monetary drives as well as food drives are feeling the pinch. This year we had the same concerns for our campaign because we always want to top our goal every year. But this year when we went on the scales and saw that we had 2,200 pounds we were like ‘holy man’. It’s almost double of what we raised last year. The community stepped up.”

Hendel said the thought that since the Santa bus has been going on for so long it has helped to give some name recognition. He added giving people the opportunity to donate on any bus also helped to contribute to the amount of food donated.

Mike Mcloud, spokesman for the Thunder Bay Food Bank, said they have around 600 clients who frequent the food bank. He guessed the amount of food donated would only last for about a few weeks.

He said there’s a constant need in the community which has only gotten worse, and so donations are always needed.

“This helps immensely,” Mcloud said. “This is really what we need. (The food) helps feed the people who need it the most.  The need is large and that’s proven by the other charities. It’s the time of the year where the need is at its greatest, when wants are greatest and when things aren’t always available. But this is a big help.”

Mcloud added people can continue to donate directly to the food bank on Miles Street or at any of the Safeway stores or the Superstore on Central Avenue.