Photo: Damjan Madjar

Damjan Madjar, left, with one of the many truckloads of donated food at Candy Cane Lane. 

The community came out in droves to Candy Cane Lane last month, revelling in the Christmas spirit and donating to those in need.

For the past eight years, dozens of homes in Rutland, on Collison Road, Gramiak Road and Mary Court, have gone all out with their Christmas decorations, transforming their block into a winter wonderland.

Damjan Madjar, the man behind the month-long event, puts out a food-donation box every year in December, where visitors can donate.

This year proved to be the most successful in the event's eight-year history – about 12,000 pounds of non-perishable food was collected for the Kelowna Women's Shelter and Freedom's Door men's recovery house.

“The donations we received this year will support the women and children staying at the shelter for months to come and mean we can allocate some of the dollars that would have been spent on groceries to other critical needs,” said Karen Mason, executive director of the women's shelter.

Tom Smithwick, director of Freedom's Door, also said they were very appreciative of the donations.

“Every night, our bin that was outside was completely full,” Madjar said. “The women's shelter had to build an extra storage facility just for us.”

He says in Candy Cane Lane's eight-year history, they've collected about 57,000 pounds of food.