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Salmon Arm Secondary student organizes 295-lb food bank donation

A large amount of clothes was also collected to support local Salvation Army
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Salmon Arm Secondary student Karly Irmen collected almost 300-lbs of food for the Salvation Army Food bank and dropped it off on Tuesday, Jan. 19. (Jim Elliot-Salmon Arm Observer)

A food drive organized as a school project will keep users of Salmon Arm’s Salvation Army food bank fed for some time.

Salmon Arm Secondary Grade 12 student Karly Irmen was already a volunteer with the Salvation Army Lighthouse community ministry when she decided to keep up the good work for her capstone graduation project.

Irmen organized a contest at the school’s Jackson campus which pitted classes at the school against each other to see who could gather the most food bank donations. The winning classes earned Tim Hortons donuts and, after a week, 295 lbs of food was collected.

Seventeen large garbage bags of clothes were also collected.

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Irmen described the donations as a little overwhelming, as the generosity of students and staff exceeded her expectations. The quantity of food and clothes was especially noticeable when it was stored near the front door of Irmen and her family’s home before it could be dropped off at the Salvation Army.

The larger food drive at Jackson follows one Irmen organized at a local mall which collected 70 lbs of food and $175 cash for the Salvation Army.

Irmen plans to keep up her volunteer work after graduating in June.



jim.elliot@saobserver.net

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Jim Elliot

About the Author: Jim Elliot

I’m a B.C. transplant here in Whitehorse at The News telling stories about the Yukon's people, environment, and culture.
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