Five police cruisers worth of non-perishable food and toy donations were delivered to the Creston Valley Gleaners Society food bank following the Cram the Cruiser event on Saturday.
Royal LePage teamed up with the Creston RCMP detachment, ambulance services, and others to help host the event in the Pealow’s parking lot.
Additionally, Staff Sgt. Brandon Buliziuk said they were able to raise $4,000 for local elementary school food programs
“This year, we’re happy to be splitting between the local elementary schools for their meal programs, breakfast, lunch, and meal programs,” Buliziuk said at the event.
“Things are going well. We’re going to be hanging out here for the rest of the day in hopes that we can support these two causes a little more.”
Buliziuk said they were very impressed with the turnout and continued support from the community.
“It’s an amazing community to live in, and the whole valley is so supportive of helping one another and looking out just for good causes, especially for the kids. It’s been great to see the positivity of people showing up and just having chats with them.”
As an RCMP officer, Buliziuk said it’s important to participate in these community events.
“I know a lot of that can get lost in the translation of our specific roles, but serving the community is what we do. And for us in the RCMP, a lot of us move around a lot, and every community we move to becomes a new home for us. And giving back to the community and helping out those in need is very important to us.”
As Creston moves into the holiday season, Buliziuk said they want to see every family able to have a Christmas meal.
“It’s very important to us because we want to see every family in our valley be able to have some sort of holiday meal, a holiday spirit, and help in any way we can. We know there are people out there who come on hard times and rely on these supports. And so for us, the timing is to try to spread the love during the holiday season.”