On Saturday, April 10th, volunteers with Kawartha Food Share are turning the phrase “porch pirate” into a good thing with a Peterborough-wide spring porch food drive.
Starting at 9 a.m. on April 10th, city residents are asked to leave a bag of non-perishable food items on their front porch to be picked up by ‘Porch Pirates for Good’ volunteers.
“The shelves at Kawartha Food Share are low again and they need the help of the community to restock,” reads a media release from Megan Murphy, who helped organize two ‘Spare a Square’ porch food drives in 2020 that collected 41,267 pounds of food and more than $5,000 in monetary donations for Kawartha Food Share.
COVID-masked volunteers will drive around the city in their own vehicles to collect the items and deliver them to the Kawartha Food Share warehouse. There will be no face-to-face contact between those donating and those picking up and, if you are ill, you are asked to refrain from donating.
Those who are ill or who can’t donate food items can also help by making a monetary donation at kawarthafoodshare.com/donations.html. For every $1 donated, Kawartha Food Share can purchase up to $6 worth of food.
In addition to the community porch food drive on Saturday, organizers are also asking Peterborough businesses to challenge each other to see if they can collectively raise a “bounty” for Kawartha Food Share by donating more than 20,000 pounds of food on Friday, April 9th alone.
Businesses interested in participating can register by emailing Susan Dunkley at susan@suzihomemaker.ca or by completing a Google Docs form. Business pick-ups will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, April 9th.
For both food drives, the items most needed for the shelves at Kawartha Food Share are canned tuna, pasta and pasta sauce, easy-to-make food that kids like (including Alphagetti, Kraft Dinner, and Chef Boyardee, breakfast cereal, peanut butter, non-perishable fruit and vegetable items, rice, canned soup or stew, feminine hygiene products, and baby formula.
On average, 8,700 people are using food banks every month in the city and county of Peterborough. At times throughout the pandemic, there has been a 20 per cent increase of food bank use — including by precarious workers who have lost hours and are relying on food banks for support more frequently.
For more information about the Porch Pirates For Good food drive, visit facebook.com/ptboporchpiratesforgood.
