OHSWEKEN – The community should be proud of itself for the overwhelming generosity shown towards the Six Nations Community Food Bank during their holiday fundraising campaign.

The “Helping Hands for the Holidays” campaign received roughly $43 000 worth of monetary and product donations. It ran from the beginning of December to the end of January. Charley Hill, co-ordinator of the food bank couldn’t believe the numbers when she added them all up.

“To be honest I was completely shocked. Our goal was $10 000 and that was completely blown out of the water,” said Charley. “I know we have great people in our community but to see so much coming in was unbelievable.”

In December, the food bank reached out and asked the community for donations. Donations that would fill their shelves with food and various hygienic products that they could give to people in the community that have a hard time getting it on their own.

“Some organizations donated money and some donated products,” said Charley. “But not only large corporations donated — people came in and gave their own money or went out and bought things that they could give us.”

This is the first year that the food bank has such a wide variety of things to give. The community got creative with their giving and the food bank was totally on board with it.