The Okotoks Food Bank will once again benefit from a visit to town by 18 Wheels of Christmas.

The festively-decorated transport truck will be stopping in the parking lot of Save-On-Foods Okotoks collecting donations Dec. 5.

Care packages pre-filled with food for the food bank will be sold for five dollars and Okotoks Food Bank Executive Director Sheila Hughes says there's a couple of ways these donations will be used.

"I do hope that we're able to use some of the care packs for our regular hamper program," Hughes says. "But also, we'd like to be able to include extras in our Christmas hampers this year. It would be really nice to be able to give a few more extras that we normally we wouldn't put in the Christmas hampers, so a little extra surprise for the families that we care for."

Hughes says any cash donations collected during the event will support the Okotoks Food Bank's fresh food fund.

This second visit to town follows a successful donation drive by 18 Wheels of Christmas at Light Up Okotoks last week.

Colleen Nickel, Rosenau Transport customer service representative, says Okotoks residents responded generously on that night, despite the wintry temperatures.

"At the end of a very cold evening, we did come out with 1,093 pounds of food for the Okotoks Food Bank, as well as fifteen hundred dollars in cash donations," Nickel says, "which is an awesome boost at this time of year, I'm sure, for the food bank."

Nickel points out that every donation raised by a community stays in that community to benefit the local food bank.

The 18 Wheels of Christmas transport truck will be at Save-On-Foods Okotoks on Tuesday, December 5 from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

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