For Dennis Legault, Unit Manager in Calgary, Purolator’s Tackle Hunger® (PTH) program is more than something he enjoys outside of his everyday work, it’s a family legacy.
“My mother spent 25 years as a food bank volunteer, so I saw poverty for myself,” Dennis says. “When I had the opportunity to help at Purolator, it was something I wanted to do immediately. No one should have to go hungry,” he adds.
Dennis joined Purolator as a courier 23 years ago. Since PTH began in 2003, Dennis has dedicated
his spare time leading the Calgary team. Over the years, interest in the initiative has grown to a point where he no longer needs to ask people to help. Now, Calgary organizes five or six events a year to provide food for families in need. Dennis credits the success of the events to a strong group of volunteers, ranging from five to 20 for each event. “We can’t do it without the team,” he says.
Throughout the years, PTH helped deliver more than 13 million pounds of food to families across the country.
While every city has its respective events, Calgary runs several events such as a city-wide food drive, a cereal challenge for back to school, and a “Red Bag” event in residential areas.
“We never stop. At one of our events, we hauled over 150,000 pounds of food. We’re not giving up until we tackle hunger”.
When PTH is featured at CFL Grey Cup events, Dennis says it’s a source of pride. “When we’re watching the game, the Purolator commercials support what we’re trying to do at our events,” Dennis says. “But beyond that, I can look at a Purolator truck and say, ‘I helped build that.’ It’s something to tell my grandkids.”
For most of the volunteers in Calgary, it’s motivating to help a good cause and encourages more people to get involved. Dennis says the motivation for his tireless work, however, is his mother. “She’s looking down and helping me do this. She’d be proud,” he says.
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