Kelowna

The current economic troubles didn’t stop Central Okanagan residents from helping out a worthy cause over the weekend.

The Fill the Van for the Sally Ann food drive on Saturday was very successful.

Organizer Wade Webb says they raised tens of thousands of dollars and approximately two tonnes of food.

“At first, I thought it was going to be a slow year, then people just started showing up. People were coming up with grocery carts packed full of food and clothing and saying ’here you go!’ It was a great day,” says Webb.

He says although they have just started counting the cash donations, they expect the total to be between 30 and 40 thousand dollars.

“As for food donations, the Salvation Army’s storage facility is very full. We filled 18 wooden pallets, the four by four pallets used to ship materials. Each one was filled about six feet high and we have 18 of them filled. It’s just amazing how generous people are, especially considering all the doom and gloom talk about the economy you hear these days.”

Webb says the food will be sorted and volunteers will begin handing it out this coming week.