Prince George, B.C. – There was a special delivery in Prince George this morning.

Over 20,000 pounds of apples arrived at Clark Freightways to be distributed to the St. Vincent de Paul Society and to communities served by Elks Lodges and beyond.

It’s part of the 10th annual Elks and St. Vincent de Paul Fruit Drive and Laurie Meier with Elks Prince George says it not only provides food to communities where there’s Elks lodges(PG,Mackenzie,McBride,Quesnel,Vanderhoof,Williams Lake) but to Burns Lake, Fort St. James, Valemount and Houston.

“A couple of years ago we started taking fruit to Burns Lake because there was a need after the mill explosion.”

The apples were donated by three orchards in Osoyoos (Casa Del Mell, Joe and Louisa Carvello Orchard, Lighthouse Orchard).

Ken Thibault of Casa del Mel lived in PG for over 35 years and calls the effort a way to give back.

“PG has always been good to us so this is a good way to give back to our old community plus others at the same time.”

And to ensure the annual event continues long into the future he says he and his wife Mel have launched a legacy project.

“My wife and I have donated an acre of land in our orchard specifically for this project and the Elks are going to plant 600 trees to ensure we’ll always have a good base of apples.”