Yellowknife (Dec 13/06) - With the Yellowknife Food Bank depending on half of its funding to be raised at Christmas time, president Dave Ritchie and food bank volunteers find themselves pretty busy this time of year.

Having raised $5,000 in the last month, Ritchie is expecting another $15,000 to $20,000 to be raised in December.

Yellowknife Co-op cashier Carol Norwegian says that many customers use designated tags to donate to the food bank as part of their routine shopping at the grocery store. - Christine Grimard/NNSL photo

"Everyone's giving during Christmas time," said Wendy Carlos, vice-president of the Yellowknife Food Bank, who added that they're grateful for the donations and support.

During last week's Stuff That Bus food drive, with the help of local radio station CJCD, donors managed to fill an entire bus with food.

So much food was given that some donations had to be turned away on the second day of the event, Ritchie reported.

"It's amazing how people are helping us out," he said.

Donations from office Christmas parties and from companies at this time of year are a large part of what the food bank relies on to feed families in need.

The food bank also relies heavily on donations from Yellowknife Co-op members, which usually funds half of the $45,000 the food bank needs each year. Through a system of bar code tags, Co-op members are able to donate by simply handing the tags in at the cash, and paying for the donations along with their bill.

Although need doesn't increase too much at Christmas time, Ritchie said the Christmas fundraising rush is vital to the organization, which is entirely dependant on seasonal holiday donations to help the 400 people the food bank feeds every month.