Spring Drive reached its goal, thanks to your generosity

TORONTO, April 20 /CNW/ - Thanks to the generous donations from the public, Daily Bread Food Bank has reached its goals of $250,000 and 250,000 lbs of food for this year's Spring Drive.

Originally expected to end on April 9th, the Spring Drive had to be extended by a week because of slow donations. Increased media attention surrounding the extension reminded Toronto there is still a very real need in this community when it comes to hunger which helped increase donations.

Along with public donations, the Spring Drive received an added boost of over 59,000 lbs of food from the GTAA Spring H.O.P.E. Food Drive. In its tenth year, residents living in apartment buildings across the city volunteered their time last Tuesday to go door-to-door collecting non-perishable food donations. Without this drive in support of food banks, Daily Bread would not have reached its Spring Drive goals.

"Whether it was a can of tuna or a bag of groceries, I'd like to thank everyone for digging deep and helping make this drive a successful one. It certainly wasn't looking like it would happen two weeks ago", said Gail Nyberg, executive director of Daily Bread Food Bank. "It is not right that in a country like Canada, and in a city like Toronto, people are going hungry. It isn't fair that people have to make choices between rent and food and it is scary how easy it is to go from having just enough to having not enough. These donations will help us through the next couple of months when donations tend to slow down, but the need for food never does."

Donations of non-perishable, nutritious food items are accepted at local fire halls throughout the year. Financial donations can be made securely, online at www.dailybread.ca or by calling 416-203-0050. Cheques can be mailed to Daily Bread Food Bank at 191 New Toronto Street, Toronto ON M8V 2E7.

Daily Bread Food Bank is an independent, non-profit, charitable organization that is fighting to end hunger in our communities. As Canada's largest food bank, Daily Bread serves people through neighbourhood food banks and meal programs in its 171 member agencies across Toronto. We know providing food to hungry people won't solve poverty; that's why Daily Bread does more. We work to support people by providing job training; researching and educating people on issues of poverty and moving forward with innovative and realistic solutions that will help people break away from poverty.

For further information: Sarah Anderson, Communications & Marketing Officer, T: [phone] ext. 238, E: [email protected], M: [phone]