A chance to enjoy a parade and make a difference locally.
The Canada Day Parade will return to downtown Windsor this week, and the Windsor Essex Food Bank Association (WEFBA) will once again be collecting canned goods and monetary donations for local food banks.
The parade will take place on July 1 at 11 a.m. on Ouellette Avenue where participants will be pushing grocery carts and collecting donations from members of the community.
The WEFBA represented 15 food banks within Windsor and Essex County, and 100 per cent of the donations will stay local and will be distributed proportionally.
June Muir, CEO of UHC - Hub of Opportunities and President of the WEFBA, says hunger doesn't take a break in the summer months, and they don't get a lot of donations during that time.
"We are looking forward to the parade, we usually collect a lot of monetary donations along the parade route. We collect a lot of canned goods. We definitely are in need. So we're really looking forward to the parade, it's a celebration, we're going to celebrate Canada Day and then we can also give back to people in our community who need it."
Muir says while all donations are welcomed, there are a few staples that really help the food banks.
"It's always good to have children's snacks, it's always good to have spaghetti sauce, spaghetti, I always think of children when they're home and what they like to eat. We always look for soups, we look for canned fruit."
She says the need across all 15 food banks has increased.
"Last year there was over 230,000 visits to the food banks - that's a lot of visits. And this year, we know the need has increased because we see it here at the UHC - Hub of Opportunities, we are creating about 300 hampers per week."
Canned goods and monetary donations will be collected along the parade route which will start at Giles Boulevard and Ouellette Avenue, and will finish at Pitt Street and Ouellette.
Muir adds that UHC distributes the hampers twice a week. They were previously distributed at the Adie Knox Herman Arena, however UHC has now moved to Mic Mac Park. The hampers are given out on Tuesday and Thursdays starting at 10 a.m. while supplies last.