Sunday is December 1st and for many it is the start of the Christmas season as the 10th annual Rogers Santa Claus Parade rolls through Downtown Vancouver.

Up to 300,000 people are expected to pack the parade route this year, and a whole lot of them will be in a “giving” kind of mood.

The Rogers Santa Claus Parade has become one of Vancouver’s biggest annual family events and it is also one of the most important food and fundraisers for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society.

“One of the things important to us here at Rogers is the spirit of giving and giving back to the community,” says Gordon Nelson, regional vice president for Western Canada at Rogers.

“This year, we are pleased again to say the parade is supporting the food

bank and we really hope that everyone who comes to the parade — if you can afford it — will bring a can or two of food or non-perishable food items or a loonie or toonie that you can donate to the volunteers who will be walking by,” he said.

For each dollar donated, the Food Bank can purchase three dollars’ worth of food.

“There is a lot of people in the city, as most of us know, who don’t necessarily have the means to have a great Christmas and we hope that by supporting the food bank it will enable more people to enjoy the Christmas spirit and the season,” said Nelson.

Since 2004, the Parade has collected $110,000 and more than 67,380 lbs. of food for hungry families in the Lower Mainland.

The Rogers Santa Claus Parade starts at 1 p.m. at Georgia and Broughton. The festivities begin at 10:30 a.m. at the Coast Capital Savings Christmas Square in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery.