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So Everybody Can Eat
Five-year-old gets “overwhelming” support for Salvation Army food bank.
by Tyler Evans
Packing Up Five-year-old Kennedy Hill asked residents in her neighbourhood for food donations for the Salvation Army food bank. She collected three minivans worth of food and supplies
The shelves at The Salvation Army’s food bank in Orillia, Ont., are now full thanks to the efforts of five-year-old Kennedy Hill.
Kennedy would frequently hear her mother, Angie Green-Hill, who works in the family services department at The Salvation Army, talk about the struggles of trying to keep the food bank shelves stocked during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The little girl just wanted to help.
“She said, ‘Well, do you need me to get food for you?’ which I giggled about,” Angie recalls when her daughter offered her initiative.
“I’ll just go around and ask the neighbours,” Kennedy continued.
Angie laughed and said, “No! You can’t just go ask random people.”
But the more Angie thought about it, the more Kennedy’s idea made sense. Fully Stocked So the little girl and her family started putting out flyers around their neighbourhood to let people know that they would be coming by to collect donations for the food bank.
When the family went out to collect the food, they were shocked to see that more than 70 homes participated by leaving food and other essential supplies on their porches or at the end of their driveways.
“It was overwhelming. We ended up with three minivans full of food. I was so impressed with Kennedy,” Angie says.
When Angie brought the food to the food bank, her co-workers couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw three long tables full of food.
“It was probably one of the best food drives I’ve ever seen,” Angie admits.
Because of Kennedy’s efforts, the shelves at the Salvation Army food bank have gone from in need of dire help to fully stocked.
When Kennedy was asked why she thought it was important to create a food drive, she replied, “So everybody can eat.”
Reprinted from Orillia Matters
