A food bank scheme in British Columbia is filling paper bags to give to charity.

Brown paper bags are being filled up in time for Christmas as part of a food bank scheme in Nanaimo, British Columbia.

The city is helping its in-need families during the holiday season, with the Quality Foods supermarket and Black Press newspaper group providing bags for residents to fill with non-perishable items while doing their weekly shop.

Nanaimo Bulletin reports that this decade-long tradition follows demand by local organisations such as the Salvation Army and the Loaves and Fishes food bank, and saw more than 61,000lb of food donated in the region last year.

However, Rob MacKay, marketing director of Quality Foods, claims this is "a very conservative estimate, because there's no way to track what was delivered directly to the food bank".

He added: "It's been a big hit and apparently has been a very big trigger for people to get a few items for the bags, either while they're out shopping out of their cupboards."

Anyone keen to get involved can fill the paper bags with non-perishable items and return them to any of the supermarkets until Christmas.

Recommended items include pasta, tinned vegetables, tins of soup, chilli and peanut butter, as well as baby food, nappies and other accessories, the newspaper revealed.

People with less time on their hands, but are still eager to join in with the charity scheme, can also buy a pre-filled bag of food to donate to the cause, with a range of sizes available to choose from.

All donations will then be collected and delivered to the food bank, ready to be distributed to families in time for December 25th.

"Judging by what the food banks have told us, they have come to really rely on these pre-Christmas drives. This time of year, the shelves start dwindling," Mr MacKay went on to add.

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