The United Way of Bruce Grey was out over the weekend collecting donations for people in need.
Fundraising Champion Kristy Andre says they were set up at Foodbasics in Owen Sound on Saturday for a Stuff the Ambulance event in support of the SOS project.
“That project supports people who are facing homelessness or drug addiction and just helping people who can really use the support right now and always. We collected a bunch of non-perishable food items, which will go to OSHaRE, Salvation Army, Safe ‘N Sound, and then can also be handed out through our Outreach Market,” says Andre.
Andre says the event went very well, collecting just over 200lbs of food.
“Every year that we do it, people just kind of understand the need already. It’s kind of hard to not know how things are going all around, but we stood out and handed out some shopping lists so people were able to refer to that when they were shopping,” says Andre.
The United Way will be back out next month collecting donations at the Giant Tiger in Owen Sound on Dec. 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“This one can kind of give us an opportunity to collect some warm socks, winter gloves, we really need some winter gloves, some personal hygiene items, tooth brushes, sleeping bags, tarps, blankets, and stuff like that so we are able to get those items that are going to help our people stay warm. They also have a lot of good deals on those non-perishable food items as well,” says Andre.
At these donation events, Andre says they are also able to show off the new SOS Ambulance.
“That vehicle allows for the SOS team to treat some of the clients that they have in a more safe space because they don’t have a place to go, so they will pull up in this ambulance and be able to give them a little private room for them to be looked after,” says Andre.