Fire Department, Holy Cross Collegiate smash previous annual food drive records
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Strathmore Fire Department and Holy Cross Collegiate school smashed their previous records this year during the third annual food drive, raising 5,546.15 pounds for the Wheatland County Food Bank.
Engaging in a friendly competition, the Fire Department continued their annual challenge to Holy Cross to see which of the two could gather more donations for the local food bank.
In addition to the food donations, a total of $220 was raised in cash donations between the two efforts.
The fire department maintained their win streak, as Holy Cross students were able to raise 674.2 pounds of food, while the rest was attributed to the fire department.
“This year, we got some unexpected help from a few other individuals. We had the Standard RCMP and FCSS helping; we also had our operations team from the town help out both days as well,” said David Sturgeon, Strathmore fire chief. “It was amazing – we did the collection and then just how many people came in the days after just to drop off (donations) at the fire hall was incredible. We are very appreciative of that and obviously it shows how willing the residents are to donate and how generous everyone is in town.”
Despite the landslide victory, the Fire Department does not wish to detract Holy Cross from trying again next year to best them, nor take away from the achievement of raising as many donations as they did.
In 2023, the drive raised 4,667 pounds of food donated to the local food bank. Last year, the challenge amounted to 4,735 pounds.
As the drive has now concluded, the students of Holy Cross Collegiate will be invited to participate in a lunch provided by the Fire Department to celebrate their efforts and their achievement through the food drive.
“We kind of already have some ideas for next year and so this year being the third year, we have hit everywhere in town now. We did it by different subdivisions to spread it out over three years. Next year, we might change it up,” said Sturgeon. “We are kind of talking about a friendly competition between subdivisions if we can make it happen, but it might be too early to say.”
The goal for future years will be to begin including more people and more organizations in order to keep it growing as best as possible.
Though he does not speak for the food bank, Sturgeon iterated the current estimate is the donations gathered through the drive will last roughly until September.
“Obviously, we are very pleased; it encourages the student leadership, especially during our season of Lent and a culture of giving and almsgiving and helping others in need and we are just glad that as a school we can do this,” added Laverne Evans, principal of Holy Cross Collegiate. “In partnership with the fire hall, it is always an annual tradition and it is fun to team up with them in a little friendly competition to help those in need.”