Blyth's Matthew Abell-Rinn foregoes birthday presents for donations

BY DENNY SCOTT

To celebrate his birthday, Matthew Abell-Rinn decided that he would follow in his brother’s footsteps and collect food for a local food drive instead of presents this year.

Matthew, the son of Kathy and Ron of Blyth, who recently turned seven years old, said he saw a picture of his brother Braidon collecting food for the Blyth Lions Club’s food drive and felt that would be a good way to support his community.

This year, Matthew hosted his birthday bash at the Blyth and District Community Centre, welcoming guests to skate and asking them to bring a food item to donate to the food drive.

“I think we had about 20 cans and boxes of food in the basket,” he said. “I’m happy with what we got.”

After collecting the food, Matthew dropped it off for the Blyth Lions. A club member then took a picture of him and shared it on their social media pages.

Matthew said he plans on doing the same thing next year, saying it was a good experience.

The Blyth Lions Club’s food drive started on Nov. 14 and runs until Nov. 28, benefitting the North Huron Community Food Share. Donations can be dropped off at Maple and Moose from Tuesdays to Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Alternatively, pre-packaged food bags are available for purchase at Blyth Food Market.