Another Miraculous Day

Windsor, Ont. -

Thousands of volunteers were happy to be part of the June 27 Miracle Food Drive. "It’s amazing," said Nicole Palazzi.

"It’s actually overwhelming to see how many people give and it’s exciting to be part of this day."

The second installment of the drive looks to be a resounding success. Residents across Windsor-Essex generously left donations on their porch or driveways before noon in time for volunteer crews to pick it up.

"I love to help the community and anyone who is in need especially the homeless," said Kristy McNeil. "They deserve to be helped."

Overall there were about five thousand volunteers involved in today’s effort. Many began working at noon collecting and sorting the steady flow of non-perishable items ranging from cereal to toiletries.

Dave O’Neil drove his van around the University of Windsor picking up goods saying, "talking to a few of the people here, they’re saying that so many people are in need right now because of COVID with unemployment and everything else. I’m hearing a lot of stories and it’s just great to be able to help people."

Last year’s inaugural event helped twenty thousand families and one hundred and twenty organizations.

To date, 55 agencies have signed up to receive donations.

"They raised two million pounds of food last year. We’re hoping to do it again this year," said Jeff Martin.

This could have been a one-time only event but organizer Matt Hernandez and his fellow committee members decided to keep it going.

"When it really comes down to it, the people and children that need it the most, once you start focusing on that all of these things that become challenges you really feel you can tackle it."