The 10th annual Osoyoos Elks Club Apple Drive shipped more than 20,000 pounds of apples and fruit to a depot in Prince George, where it will be distributed to numerous food banks, community agencies and school programs across northern British Columbia. Program founder Ken Thibault (far left) was assisted by fellow Elks Club members Carrie and Jim Sale. Three local orchardists donate the fruit and dozens of volunteers help pack it to send up north each September during harvest season. (Keith Lacey photo)
Ken Thibault says he never gets tired of seeing the smiles on the faces of the people he and fellow members of the Osoyoos Elks Club assist during their annual food drive.
For the 10th consecutive year, members of the Osoyoos Elks Club have gathered and shipped thousands of pounds of apples and other fruit to food banks, school lunch programs and community groups in northern British Columbia.
Last week, the 10th annual Osoyoos Elks Club Apple Drive shipped more than 20,000 pounds of apples and fruit to a depot in Prince George.
From there, members of various Elks Clubs and other volunteers will distribute the apples and fruit to various food banks, school programs and community groups in Burns Lake, Fort St. James, Quesnel, McBridge, Valemont, Vanderhoof and Williams Lake.
The food is used to feed citizens at transition homes, women’s shelters, youth hostels, seniors’ centres, friendship lodges, drop-in centres, Salvation Army depots, First Nation friendship centres, parent support groups and five elementary schools.
Thibault came up with the idea for the food drive to assist people in the north after moving to Osoyoos and purchasing an orchard with his wife Mellhina about a dozen years ago.
“We lived in Prince George for more than 35 years and we both knew a lot of people in that community and how much they would appreciate some assistance,” he said. “My wife and I decided to start this food drive on our own and did it by ourselves for the first couple of years, but then we had joined the local Elks Club and decided to ask the membership if they would like to get involved.”
Several members wanted to get involved as did fellow orchardists Joe and Vera Hilario and Joe and Louise Carvalho, said Thibault.
“Between the three orchards, we’ve been able to donate a substantial amount of food over the past 10 years,” he said proudly. “We donate the apples and other fruit, but we have received some tremendous support from Elks Club members and other businesses here in Osoyoos who want to be part of this and assist us in various ways.”
When he first purchased his Osoyoos orchard, Thibault said he was shocked at how much fruit had to be discarded during harvest season.
“I saw how much of it was going to waste and figured there had to be a way to salvage a lot of this fruit that we couldn’t sell and help others at the same time.”
With the help of dozens of volunteers, most of them Elks Club members, the food drive has now raised more than 90,000 pounds of food during the annual event, said Thibault.
Thibault and his wife, good friends Jim and Carrie Sale and former Osoyoos Elks Club presidents Ken Usher and Leroy Olson made the long trip from Osoyoos to Prince George to help deliver the fruit late last week.
The food drive is very much appreciated by every one of the 20 community organizations and five elementary schools that benefit, said Thibault.
“They are just so appreciative that people from so far away would go out of their way to help them,” he said. “To see all of the smiles on the faces of the volunteers, the school children and the people who benefit from these community programs makes all of the hard work more than worth it.”
It takes three or four days of very hard work to pack the apples and fruit and get the boxes and crates ready to ship by truck up to Prince George, he said.
“None of us has the space to store that much cargo, so we bring in our volunteer crews and get everything together in a matter of days and then ship them out as quickly as we can,” he said. “We wouldn’t be able to do any of this without the support of the Elks Club members and other volunteers who help us.”
Thibault said the food drive donates more apples and fruit with each passing year and he’s confident it will continue to grow and help more people in the coming years.
“We’re helping a lot of people and hopefully we’ll be able to help even more in the coming years,” he said.
All members of the Osoyoos Elks Club are proud to be involved in the annual event and there’s no reason it won’t continue to grow and help even more people in the coming years, said Thibault.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
