A group of local organizers came together to put political differences aside to help raise funds and donations to fight food insecurity in Cambridge.
The Cambridge Food Drive Initiative (CFDI) collected over 2,300lbs of food for the Cambridge Food Bank this past weekend at drives spread throughout the city.
"We were set up at four different grocery store locations and the combination of monetary donations as well as food donations put us right over 2,300lbs of food," said Jamie Colwell, founder of CFDI.
Colwell has partnered with former city and regional councillor Karl Kiefer, his son Jake, who recently served as office coordinator for Guelph's Green Party leader Mike Schreiner, and Cambridge PC riding vice president, Nathan Walen.
Colwell said events like these really speak to the needs of the community, adding he's proud of Cambridge when ideologies and differences can be put aside to focus on helping others.
"We really wanted to show that hunger doesn't know politics. When you're hungry, you don't care about what political party you prefer or policy that you prefer. People just want to eat," he said.
The initiative has been raising food for the local food bank for years, but the need keeps growing every year, requiring more support from the community.
The food bank's capital campaign lead, Jen Germann Wright said a lot more families are one or two paycheques from needing to use the food bank's service.
"We are still seeing new people coming every day and there is no sign of this stopping anytime soon," she said.
Coming off of an unprecedented 2023 for the food bank that saw nearly double the number of people served in 2022, the first six months of 2024 has seen another 20 per cent incr.ease in demand.
Last year Colwell and his team raised just over 6,000 lbs of food, this year having seen the exponential growth of the food bank, they have tripled their goal to 18.500 lbs.
"I think we can hit it," he said. "There is so much good in this community and people are wanting to help I think that is one of the most important things."
On July 6, the CFDI will be hosting a barbecue at the Zehrs at 180 Holiday Inn Dr. and will be looking for cereals, pancake mix, fruit cups and other breakfast foods.
There will be another large-scale drive set up across the four grocery stores in Cambridge on July 20 and Aug. 17 with a final barbecue at the Cambridge Farmer's Market on Aug. 23.
These drives have become so important for Colwell, because at one point he needed to use the food bank and it helped him during a difficult time in his life.
Now that he is in a position to help the place that once fed him, he wants to feed others and lift up his community.
"We are all in the same storm, but just in different boats. Some are in the bigger boats some are in smaller boats and some are drowning really bad right now, so we need to do everything we can to help those around us and make sure we all stay above water," he added.
He hopes to host more events like this where people can cross party lines and show out for the community and help those who might need a little boost.
"No matter who you are or what you believe, you need to eat," said Colwell. "We want to make sure that we can feed as many people in Cambridge as possible."
To learn more about the food drive initiative and how to help, check out their Facebook page.
