The changing leaves and crisper weather remind us that the seasons are changing. In anticipation of Thanksgiving, many of us paused amidst our busy schedules to reflect on our blessings.
Unfortunately, there are those in our own community who are less fortunate. In the Mississauga Food Bank's 2015 Face of Hunger report outlined that 13,000 individual's visit the Mississauga food bank each month and over 112,000 people in Mississauga live below the poverty line.
This year, we pledged to take action to help our neighbors in need by participating in a food drive to benefit the Mississauga Food Bank. We were inspired to join a city wide food drive challenge leading up to Thanksgiving initiated by Mayor Bonnie Crombie of Mississauga in partnership with the Mississauga Food Bank and the Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services. In a joint mission to fight hunger, Mississauga's eleven wards went head-to-head in a friendly competition to collect the most non-perishable goods as well as funds at their local fire stations.
The Mississauga Food Bank provides wholesome food to 47 member agencies around the city ensuring that families in every community have access to non-perishables, meat, dairy and fresh produce.
In this year's city-wide challenge, Ward 6 in Mississauga emerged the winner on October 17 with an impressive $82,917 and 148,900 pounds of food donated to the important cause.
Our participation in the food drive was initially a product of our recruitment and retention-focused initiatives, spearheaded by Sophia S., PR Social Media, Business Development Administrator and Marketing. Sophia was responsible for overseeing the organization, implementation and promotion of the event.
Our contribution to the drive would not have materialized into as great a success without members of the Musket team dedicated to the cause. Slavey I., our Southdown Terminal Supervisor, and Stephanie F., our Logistics Coordinator, provided valuable help. Slavey assisted in setting up the donations bin at our Southdown Terminal and volunteered his time to drive and deliver CHET's donations, while Stephanie helped set up the donations bin at our headquarters and volunteered to assist in donation drop offs. General Manager of Musket's 5 divisions, Jaime R., accompanied Stephanie in the delivery of our final donation to our local fire station.
The entire team at Musket Transport Ltd. would like to express our gratitude to each and every Musket employee and CHET student who made a donation. Each contribution personally impacted - or will impact - a local individual or family in need in our community. We are honored to have played a role in making this campaign a success.
According to Chris Hatch, Executive Director of the Mississauga Food Bank, "The food bank saw a significant increase in donations this Thanksgiving. [We're] overwhelmed by the generosity the community has shown their hungry neighbors and so appreciative to Mayor Crombie and to Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services for partnering with us to make this initiative such a resounding success."
Visit the Mississauga Food Bank's website to make a donation today.