During the month of October, Rhineland Car in Altona partnered with Ecole Parkside School for the WE Scare Hunger program.

On Tuesday, student leaders from each classroom packed up the food they had collected over a two-week period. The leadership group is made up of 21 students and lead by teacher Joelle Harbinson.

Coordinator of the Rhineland and Area Food Bank, Angelika Stoesz, explains to students how the food bank operates

Each collected food item was worth a certain amount of points, and the winning classroom was Room 6, taught by Jacynthe Sabourin. This classroom will be rewarded with a pizza party courtesy of Rhineland Car.

Alex Fennell, a student at Ecole Parkside School, explained that all the student leaders would keep track of how many points a class earned.

"Every class donated," said Fennell. "In the morning you'd always check how much they would bring."

"Everybody was pretty competitive... one class won by a lot," he added.

Mia and Jim Dick of Rhineland car helped the students load the boxes of food into the back of two F-150 Ford trucks. The food was then unloaded at the Rhineland and Area Food Bank.

"It's lots of fun to see the kids, see what they're doing, have them experience... being part of our community and giving back to our community," said Jim Dick.

Angelika Stoesz, coordinator of the food bank, thanked the students and Rhineland Car for their efforts. Stoesz was also presented with a $250 certificate from Rhineland car, to be used for food bank groceries.  

Stoesz noted that 2017 marks the food bank's 20th anniversary, which opened its doors in May of 1997 with 3 clients. Now the food bank operates with about 50 volunteers, providing 45 to 60 hampers per week.  

Rhineland Car was also collecting non-perishable food items throughout October. For every donation made, participants were entered into a draw for a free service certificate. The winner of the certificate was Carl Giesbrecht.

This was the dealership's 4th year of participating in the WE Scare Hunger initiative. In total, 11 Ford dealerships across Manitoba took part, and the national goal was to donate 350,000 pounds of food.

Last year Ford dealerships across Canada donated 275,000 pounds of food.

Nearly 850,000 Canadians rely on food banks each month.