BY KIMBERLY LUSTE MARAN

Nearly 200 young adults attending Impact Toronto 2000 met at the Daily Bread Food Bank in downtown Toronto on Sabbath afternoon for the first in a series of service projects during the General Conference session. The food bank staff was waiting with vegetables, cans of soup, bottled salad dressing, and� many other edibles that the IT volunteers would pack into boxes for distribution at other food banks throughout the city.

More than 25,000 pounds of food was sorted and packed (enough reclaimed food for 6,000 meals), some of which will be distributed by the young adults on Wednesday evening, July 5, at Regent Park. Thirty-five food banks operate within a one mile radius of Regent Park, and all are supplied by the Daily Bread Food Bank.

The Impact Toronto 2000 coordinating team scheduled this event to celebrate Canada Day [July 1] by helping the community, and also as a training exercise. �God led in our decision to go to the food bank,� said Scott Shalk, one of the IT 2000 coordinators.

NO MORE TEARS, NO MORE HUNGER: Four Adventist youth sort onions for an Impact Toronto 2000 youth service project to stock hampers at the Toronto Daily Food Bank.

�We needed to find an event that would be appropriate,� and also get the entire IT group in one place to work together before we started our week of ministries.� Late in the week, almost the last minute, the Daily Bread volunteer group coordinator, Sandra Chignell, was contacted. Chignell was delighted to host the group, and many of the food bank staff came in on the national holiday to lend a hand.

Chignell praised the IT group, one of the largest groups of volunteers to assist at the Daily Bread, for their enthusiasm and interest. �They asked a lot of questions about the food bank�how it operates, how many people are helped, . . . and they did what we asked of them. They were happy to do whatever we assigned. . . . It was a pleasure to have them here.�

Many of the IT groups sang while they packed or sorted,� joined at times by the food bank staff.

�The experience has been good because I�m learning how [the food bank] happens so I can do it back home,� said Mark Baines, a theology student at Avondale College in Australia. �[I�m] tired of just theory; this is practical, hands-on. It�s good to �get your hands dirty.��