Altona, Morden, and Winkler youth assisted their respective communities Wednesday, collecting food for those who are having a difficult time.

Heading door-to-door Wednesday night, youth collected food donations as part of the FCC Drive Away Hunger campaign.

Ang Stoesz from Reinland and Area Food Bank, says they were asking for items which they call their Top Ten.

Winkler youth members who were part of the door-to-door campaign. "A huge thank you to the people of Winkler for their donations and generosity.  It's a huge help to the food cupboard," said Eldon Shore, organizer for the drive in Winkler

"We have some things that we always have on our shelf and use every single week. That includes peanut butter, beans, tomato sauce, noodle or vegetable soup, canned fruits or vegetables, pasta, powdered juice, rice, canned meats, and non-sugared cereal."

Menno Giesbrecht Secretary-Treasurer of the Winkler Food Cupboard says having youth involved is very important, to have them participate in an event that is positively affecting their community.  

"We're overwhelmed," said Giesbrecht when reacting to the sight of the food collected by youth.  "It's just fantastic, look at all this stuff we have here, we have thousands of pounds.  And we praise the Lord for every pound we get."

Giesbrecht notes the youth enjoy coming down to the food cupboard and seeing what's going on and he’s very thankful to all the youth who participated this year.

Anyone in a community can have a tough time and needs a helping hand, having the opportunity to assist the community is a blessing, says Caring and Sharing President Amy Friesen.

"It is huge, we’re so blessed to be able to support those maybe just going through a tough time. We’re just so grateful to be able to help the community in this way."

"I'm very proud of the youth of Winkler," said Eldon Shore who organized the youth in Winkler. "We had a ton of youth come out, and they worked very hard."

Dylan Johnson with BDO, who supplied the trucks for delivery and extra hands for loading and unloading the food, said it's an overwhelming feeling when you see 4 1/2 trucks filled with food to deliver to the food cupboards.

After only one evening of food collection, over 18,000 pounds of food was gathered and prepared to be sent out to families throughout the Pembina Valley.

In Altona, youth collected 5,033 pounds and $1,875, 6,596 and $10 was collected by Morden youth, and Winkler youth brought in 6,886 pounds and $1,285.

Below is a gallery of photos from the Altona youth collection.