By Glenda Eden - AgriNews Staff Writer

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CHESTERVILLE—In spite of difficult economic times local Farm Credit Canada staff were able to collect almost 20,000 pounds of food to fight rural hunger in SD&G Prescott-Russell and Grenville County communities.

Staff from the Kanata and Embrun FCC offices began the trek in Hawkesbury on October 7 and ended in Kemptville on Friday afternoon where donations were picked up at the Kemptville Campus of the University of Guelph. The tractor and wagon made 15 stops at local schools and accounting firms to collect food for six food banks including the Russell Food Bank, the Dundas Food bank and House of Lazarus.

Students from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Chesterville collected 580 pounds of food — 170 pounds more than last year. The tractor and wagon, donated by Weagant farm equipment, also made a stop at North Dundas District High School.

FCC Drive Away Hunger has contributed almost two million pounds of food to food banks across Canada since it began in 2004.

The unique food drive focuses on reducing hunger in rural Canada. The first tour took place when an FCC employee in Ontario drove an open-cab tractor and trailer through the Listowel area for eight days. Camping along the way, he collected donations and food for local food banks. With a goal of 30,000 pounds the tour collected almost 60,000 pounds of food (27,200 kg) and is the model for the current Drive Away Hunger campaign. This year, Drive Away Hunger tours took place in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and at FCC corporate office in Regina, Saskatchewan. Food was also collected at every Farm Credit office in Canada.

A total of 1,627,617 pounds of food were collected for rural food banks during he Canada-wide effort.

Drive Away Hunger is made possible through the support of FCC employees, local food banks, community partners and people in the communities. A bag at a time school children and residents donate food and community partners and agriculture producers donate equipment and large food donations. By working in partnerships with local food banks the program ensures the food collected goes to those in need within the community

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