For the 13th year, the United Way of BC served up breakfast for people in their cars and on foot for its annual fundraiser in Penticton. 

The Drive-Thru Breakfast was still serving up meals past the scheduled end at 9 a.m., almost three hours after they started on April 2. 

The number of prepared meals ready to be handed out on the tables had dwindled down to a few dozen, a far cry from the 800 the fundraiser started with. 

A billboard outside the Penticton Lakeside Resort where the breakfast was taking place read that $16,000 had already been raised. The final count of donations, including corporate pledges, will come later.

"We've had busy cars here all day long, which is amazing to see the community support," said Heather Van Der Gaag, United Way campaign manager. "We have everybody out here from the firemen to the police officers to the mayor here. It's just a really great time to celebrate community and what a difference we can make when we all come together."

The money raised through the breakfast's donations stays in the South Okanagan and goes back into the United Way's local programs and services. 

While many of the programs receive funding through the breakfast continually, every year a different program is highlighted, and for 2025 it was the United Way's various emergency response services, including fire and flood responses. 

Those programs hit home particularly for Van Der Gaag, as she had to evacuate in West Kelowna in 2024 due to the wildfire. It wasn't the first time she had relied on the United Way's support and was part of the reason she volunteered with them.

"12 years I was a single mom living on my own, I lost my job, had no food in my cupboards and no money to be able to purchase any for my little kids. I had to reach out for food services, that's something that United Way provides," said Van Der Gaag. "If I didn't have those services, I would have lost custody of my four kids, not because I was a bad parent, but purely because I couldn't afford it."

More than 50 volunteers worked together to prepare and put on the breakfast. That doesn't include the additional support from the Penticton Fire Department, RCMP, Bylaw, and Penticton Lakeside Resort.