Living Realty is delighted to announce the launch of our fifth annual Thanksgiving food drive, which will run until 4th October for the benefit of the Daily Bread Food Bank.
Our first Thanksgiving food drive was held in 2017, and that year we managed to collect close to 1700lb of food and donated that plus a $2,000 cheque to the Daily Bread Food Bank. Following on from that success, we decided to make the Thanksgiving food drive a yearly event and we had two more successful drives in 2018 and 2019.
Our plan was to do the same in 2020 but we had to change things around a little bit last year due to the covid-19 pandemic, so we switched to an online fundraiser for Daily Bread and managed to collect over $4800! Following our pledge to match every donation, we then wrote a cheque $5,000 to make a grand total of almost $10,000.
Thankfully, things have opened up a little bit now and we are able to welcome people to our offices once again. That’s why we decided to have a hybrid food drive this year, giving people the option to donate online or in-person at our offices. Donation boxes have been set up at our five offices in Markham, North Markham, North York, downtown Toronto and central Mississauga to allow people to donate non-perishable food items.
An official online donation page has also been created that will allow people to make a donation without visiting a branch if that is their preference. All donations made through the page will go directly to the Daily Bread Food Bank and tax receipts will be available for anyone who donates $20 or more.
As we have done in all previous years, Living Realty will be making a charitable donation. This year, rather than matching donations 1 for 1, we are pledging to donate $2 to the food bank for every 1lb of food collected. In addition, we will donate $2 for every $1 donated through the online donation page. Having donated $5,000 last year, we hope to at least match that total in 2021
Broker of Record Kelvin Wong spoke about the Thanksgiving Food Drive and explained the continued support for the food bank: “We have always tried to support the community around us and that support is needed more than ever. The Daily Bread Food Bank reports that usage of its services has increased by 50% since the pandemic began and we want to do our part in helping to meet the growing need in our community.”
Mr. Wong added, “We are proud of the response of our staff, agents and visitors to our previous Thanksgiving drives and we were delighted to write a $5,000 cheque last year at a time when it was desperately needed. We hope that on October 4th we will be writing a similar cheque once more!”
