Advertisement

Fort St. John youth organizes food drive

“Hunter’s First Food Drive” will involve eight-year-old Hunter Mackay going door-to-door around the city to collect non-perishable food items.

Eight-year-old Hunter Mackay will be going door-to-door in Fort St. John on February 24th to collect donations for his first food drive. (Jolene Mackay, Facebook)

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A local youth is looking to help out those in need in Fort St. John by organizing his own food drive.

“Hunter’s First Food Drive” will involve eight-year-old Hunter Mackay going door-to-door around the city to collect non-perishable food items.

The items will then be donated to the local Salvation Army food bank.

Advertisement

Keep Up with Your Community

Don’t miss out on local news, events, and more. Sign up for our free Daily Newsletter powered by Alpine Glass

According to his mother, Jolene, Hunter always had a sense of community and a passion for helping and donating.

“We’re always sure to leave any spare cash in any store in town, like with a cash donation box. Hunter usually donates if he also has spare change,” said Jolene. 

“He even took his entire piggy bank down to Canadian Tire one time to empty it for On Our Way Home Animal Rescue that had a table there.”

Advertisement

The idea of his own food drive came from Hunter cleaning his room.

“Hunter mentioned he wanted to donate his old toys and clothes. We then started talking about different organizations like the Women’s Resource Society and the Salvation Army. He wanted to go to our pantry and take all the food down.”

Although they were not able to donate all their food, they decided to donate some items. Hunter requested friends and family to donate items as well, and thus, Jolene posted about the drive on Facebook. 

The post got the attention of the local Salvation Army executive director, Jared Braun.

He says Hunter’s act shows an incredibly devout sense of paying it forward.

“This shows an incredible level of selflessness,” said Braun. “We’re all mostly focused on our own entertainment and consumption. It’s amazing to see a young person have a heart for those less fortunate.”

“Full credit should be given to his mom, who instilled great community awareness in him.”

More details can be found on the Facebook event post created by Jolene. People can also contact Jolene directly by email at jolene.cupples@gmail.com or by phone at (250)793-4119 if they would like to donate food to the drive.

The food drive is scheduled for Saturday, February 24th.

Stay connected with local news

Make us your

home page

Authors
Ed Hitchins

A guy who found his calling later in life, Edward Hitchins is a professional storyteller with a colourful and extensive history.

Beginning his journey into journalism in 2012 at Seneca College, Edward also graduated from Humber College with an Advanced Diploma in Print and Broadcast Journalism in 2018.  After time off from his career and venturing into other vocations, he started his career proper in 2022 in Campbell River, B.C.

Edward was attracted to the position of Indigenous Voices reporter with Energeticcity as a challenge.  Having not been around First Nations for the majority of his life, he hopes to learn about their culture through meaningful conversations while properly telling their stories. 

In a way, he hopes this position will allow both himself and Energeticcity to grow as a collective unit as his career moves forward and evolves into the next step.

He looks forward to growing both as a reporter and as a human being while being posted in Fort St. John.

This reporting position has been funded by the Government of Canada and the Local Journalism Initiative.

Close the CTA