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Launched on the eve of the new millennium, one of London’s largest holiday helping campaigns has begun its 25th run. LFP reporter Brian Williams spoke with Wayne Dunn, who founded and still oversees the Business Cares food drive.
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Q: This year marks the 25th Business Cares food drive. What was the inspiration that kickstarted it?
A: Ed Holder (London’s former mayor) and I were good friends, both in business at the same time. . . . Glen Pearson came to us and asked us to resurrect the food bank on behalf of the business community. So, we started up, and we called it Business Cares.
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Q: The first year of the drive 16,329 kilograms (36,000 pounds) of food was collected. Last year, a record 284,402 kilograms was collected. Can you give us an idea of what that much food looks like?
A: It would fill this entire room (385 square metres) . . . (in containers) four-feet high, four feet by four feet (1.2 metres square). This entire room would be completely full . . . plus another half. That, plus, with a whole bunch of cash on the sidelines, to be able to probably do another one.
Q: What stands out the most after all these years?
A: The spirit of giving. No matter where the numbers have been, the community always rises to the challenge, and London is a very giving community.
Q: How is the drive different than when you started in 2000?
A: Simply, just the amount of people that are in need, the amount of people that are part of our team and registered, the size of the city, and the different ideas we’ve had. Even technology along the way, massive compared to the beginning . . . we have a really good template of how we do this. We tweak it every year. We don’t do a lot of change, because it’s very successful, thanks to all the donors.
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Q: What’s the most surprising donation?
A: It was over at Clarke Road Metro years ago. A lady came out who was a recipient of the food bank before, with two cans and she was a client of the food bank for years . . . a donation like that is kind of what I’ve been saying here today. It’s not the size of it, it’s the generosity.
Q: As people face a more challenging economic climate, are you seeing changes in the types of food donations received?
A: Yes, but primarily because we’re driving it that way. We’re driving nutrition. We’re driving food that we all want to eat at the house. So, it’s not all sugar-based foods. It’s low sodium, low sugar, peanut butter, proper baby food, rice; and so, we’ve really worked hard on fresh and nutritious over the last probably five years, and it’s working.
Q: What keeps you going all these years?
A: Knowing that we’re making a difference.
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada
ABOUT BUSINESS CARES
- Runs from Nov. 28 to Dec. 19, with organizers looking for donations of non-perishables such as: peanut butter, canned tuna, salmon, cereals, low sugar and low sodium products, rice, baby food and feminine products.
- The drive also is accepting financial donations which can be made online at https://www.businesscares.ca/donate/
- You can drop off donations at seven locations listed on the Business Cares website until Dec. 18.
- Food and financial donations will be given to The London Food Bank.
- For more information, go to https://www.businesscares.ca/ or contact Wayne Dunn at 519-661-9803.
- Know someone in need in London this holiday season, or people or groups trying to help? Let us know at lfp.newsdesk@sunmedia.ca
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