The spirit of giving was palpable at 琉璃神社鈥檚 Immaculata Regional High School.

Students and community members participated in an annual turkey drive at the school Friday, Dec. 15.

As people across the country are using food banks in record numbers, the need has never been greater.

Director of development for the Central Okanagan Community Food Bank Trina Speiser was pleased with the turnout and the help of rink academy members.

鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty special and fun here,鈥� said Speiser. This is the sixth year for the drive. Volunteers started showing up at 6 a.m. and by 8 a.m. were happy with how the drive was going.

They have a goal of collecting 200 turkeys. While the pile may not have looked too full early in the morning, a lot of people came with cash donations.

The drive first began in 2018 when Jim Hare saw a need for a drive in 琉璃神社 after participating in similar drives in Montreal. Hare recalled buying two turkeys for that drive, adding that feeding a couple of families for Christmas was a great feeling.

This was the inspiration for the Central Okanagan Food Bank鈥檚 theme: Feed a family, feel the joy.

The members of the RINK Hockey Academy were spreading joy as they helped collect donations and encouraged those driving by the school to stop by, holding signs in front of the school.

鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty central and the school supported it really well鈥� and now we鈥檝e got kid鈥檚 RINK hockey program out, so it鈥檚 really expanding into the community nicely at this point,鈥� said Hare.

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