Our 2011 Goals

     Last year we started Pickering Cares. We sensed a real need in the community for a major food drive at a non-traditional time. There tends to be strong focus on food banks at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We felt, and had confirmed to us by the food banks, that stocking up for the needs of families in the summer was just as important.
    With the help of almost everyone at Amberlea Church as well as St. Pauls - on - the - Hill Anglican,  Pickering  Pentecostal,  Bayfair Baptist, Hope Community Church, our Scouting and Guide troop and a bunch of other volunteers including the Mayor of Pickering, we were able to accomplish a major door to door food drive covering a major portion of Pickering. Over 5 tons of food were collected.
    This year, we hope to cover all of urban Pickering. This means we will need more partners and more volunteers. It is an important initiative and our goal is to communicate it well. Please help us spread the word. We will have our volunteer desk in operation later this month. Please set aside the two important dates: May 7th and May 14th as we will be distributing almost 20,000 door knocker type flyers and going back to pick up, hopefully, 10 tons of food.
   The two major food banks that service the needs of Pickering (and Ajax) are worthy of our continued support. Many hands will make light work. We can share hope with many families that are going through rough times.

Pickering Cares 2011

The time has come to start planning for Pickering Cares 2011. Our team leaders will gather Thursday, February 24th to finalize the high level plan with teams then ready to work on the details. The major dates for 2011 are as follows:
 - Distribution of the Door Knockers  -  Week of May 7th
 - Pickup and sorting the food          - Saturday, May 14th

There are opportunities for all of the volunteers from 2010 and many more as we expand the drive to all of urban Pickering. The information for the volunteer coordinator will be announced soon. We look forward to the community pulling together once more to accomplish this important project that benefits people of genuine need in our community.
       

It's winding down

We are winding down from this years Food Drive. It looks like we are very close to 10,000 pounds of food raised for our Food Bank Partners. There is a lot to learn from this first attempt. Some people were missed that had put food out. We are very sorry. You can still leave a message at 905 831 2758 if you have a pickup.

There are an incredible number of people to thank. Hundreds of people gave of their time, energy and talents to make this possible. Rather than center out some, I would rather thank all. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We showed the world that Pickering Cares!

It's Done - The Food is in

Well, Saturday was amazing. Over 9000 pounds of food was collected. Our partners and volunteers were amazing. We are now cleaning up the loose ends. It is apparent that some houses were missed. If you have food for the food banks we would love to come and pick it up. Either email pickeringcares@gmail.com or leave a message at 905 839 1383 and a car will be dispatched.

There are lots of photos at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pickering-Cares/119849874715041?v=photos&ref=ts

Thank you Pickering. It is true that Pickering Cares!!!

It's Almost May 15th - The Big Day

After months of planning, hours of execution by dozens of volunteers and thousands of flyers distributed, we are finally ready to begin the collection of what we trust will be tons of much needed food. There is excitement and anticipation all around the project. Our last pre-collection meeting is tonight.
The big deal here is the people who will be helped. This sumer, the foodbanks will be full, not empty. Clients will be served, not sent away. Children will be fed, not hungry.
And it is all becasue of love. I know that Pickering Cares!

The Distribution of Door Hangers is Done

As I write this, with the help of the other churches, Amberlea's youth group, The 84th Pickering Pathfinders, the Salvation Army volunteers, Amberlea adults and volunteers from the community, we have covered the L1V postal code of Pickering with over 12,000 door hangers.

This is an amazing step. Thank you to everyone of you who has helped us get this far. Now we focus on Saturday, May 15th. This will be the day to put your food bank gifts out on your front step. (If they are in a bag or a box, either tape the flyer to it or mark it with a "P".

This time next week we hope to have tons of food for our two foodbanks. It just takes everybody contributing just a little to make a huge difference. Let's show the world that Pickering Cares.

Top Ten List of Food Needed

We asked the Food Banks what they needed the most for this summer and they gave us a list.

1. Dry Soups ( example Mr. Noodle )
2. Meal Helpers ( examples Sidekicks and Hamburger Helper )
3. Canned Pasta ( example SpagettiO's )
4. Tins of Tuna and Salmon
5. Canned Fruit
6. Canned Beans
7. Tea/Instant Coffee/Sugar
8. Crackers/Cookies
9. Kid's Luncheon Snacks
10. Canned Chli and Stew

Let's make sure that no family goes hungry this summer in Pickering. Pickering Cares!