GLACE BAY, N.S. -- A Cape Breton man has surpassed his goal and collected a record number of donations for his milk drive, thanks in part to a business on Prince Edward Island.
Mickey McNeil’s milk drive for the Glace Bay Food Bank officially ended last month, but this week he received his biggest donation yet.
Dairy Isle saw a story about the milk drive on CTV News last month and wanted to help, so the company reached out to McNeil.
“They’re donating 1,800 cans of milk, which really comes to 75 cases of milk,” he says.
The donation has pushed McNeil’s total over the top, helping him raise more than $8,000 worth of milk.
“It’s just absolutely wonderful. I can’t even explain how happy and grateful I am to be receiving all of this, and all of the support from P.E.I. and Mickey,” says Michelle Kalbhenn, co-ordinator of the Glace Bay Food Bank.
McNeil says the donation from Dairy Isle is the biggest donation he has received since starting the annual milk drive six years ago.
At first, he had some concerns about how he would transport all that milk to Glace Bay.
“The only problem is we have to get it over here,” he says. “With going on Facebook, we’ve received messages from a number of people with offers and suggestions.”
A solution was quickly found, thanks to a man from Glace Bay, who offered to drive to Charlottetown to pick up the milk and deliver it to the food bank on Sunday.
“Now I can concentrate on other things, instead of just milk,” says Kalbhenn. “I can make sure they have potatoes and extra meat, where it’s really expensive for me to buy it every two weeks.”
Speaking of spuds, the food bank will also receive 100 bags of potatoes from P.E.I. McNeil has also received a $1,000 cheque from a man in Truro, N.S., who wanted to remain anonymous.
“We all know we would move heaven and earth if we found out our grandchildren or someone was doing without,” says McNeil. “So I think they all just reached down inside themselves and figured we got to do something.”
