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VIDEO: Teacher harnesses the power of Oak Bay to gather truckloads of food

Trio of trucks haul wares to Mustard Seed warehouse in Esquimalt

The Mustard Seed Food Bank stocks are three truckloads heavier after the Oak Bay High community pulled together Friday (Dec.10).

“We just wanted to make sure the community was able to help out,” said teacher Corey Wright, who led what she called a team effort.

Students streamed through the halls pulling boxes and bags from corners of the school to fill the trio of teachers’ pickups parked out back.

“We usually do lots of hampers for Oak Bay. Hampers are big and our community is amazing about being incredibly generous and helping families during this time very specifically,” Wright said.

She kept hearing about the low food donations and rising need, and felt the need to amp up the school community’s input.

“I was like ‘we need to harness the power of Oak Bay,’” she said.

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Jason Newton, of the Mustard Seed Street Church was on hand to help and get the food to the organization’s Esquimalt warehouse.

“It’ll get sorted by our volunteers then it goes into hampers,” he explained. Food from the warehouse stores is distributed to schools, seniors homes other non-governmental organizations and groups in the region.

“It’s a big network, 50,000 people are in food insecurity in Greater Victoria, it’s about 13 per cent of the population, so it’s a huge impact,” Newton said.

Oak Bay High also donated about $2,100, with money still trickling in.

“We know that the buying power Mustard Seed has is three to one so we’ll also be giving a big cheque,” Wright said.

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The Mustard Seed, like many charities in the region, keeps an up-to-date list of current needs. Visit mustardseed.ca to learn more.

c.vanreeuwyk@blackpress.ca