Barrhead Food Bank is more than 2,000 pounds richer.
Last week’s injection of wealth came not in banknotes … but in the form of a mountain of pasta, flour, canned goods, baby food and other non-perishable items.
This fattening up of the bank’s supplies is down to Farm Credit Canada’s (FCC) 10th Annual “Drive Away Hunger” program and the efforts of Neerlandia and Fort Assiniboine schools.
The schools helped out locally in a program that involves collecting food and cash donations for food banks across the country.
Megan Balascak, Barrhead FCC relationship manager, said schoolchildren in Neerlandia and Fort Assiniboine had collected food weighing more than 2,000 pounds.
“Barrhead FCC was also at the Wildrose Rodeo taking food and cash donations there,” said Balascak.
Others getting involved in the anti-hunger drive include the Co-op and Freson IGA, as well as youngsters at schools in Mayerthorpe and Dunstable.
Balascak said non-perishable food donations can be left at the Barrhead FCC office (5004 - 50 Ave) and any cash donations over $10 will be receipted for tax purposes.
Rob Schmeichel, District Director for FCC for the Edmonton District, based out of Edmonton, and looking after the offices in Westlock, Barrhead, Edmonton and Leduc, said 100 FCC offices across the country were involved in collecting food.
He said there would be so-called tractor tours in Fort Saskatchewan, Stony Plain and Leduc this year.
Schmeichel said food collections in Barrhead and Westlock were slightly different from the tractor tours, but the goal was the same – food or cash donations for the food bank.
People can also take cash or food donations to their local FCC office.
He added that in Barrhead and Westlock, Martin-Deerline will be accepting food donations as a partner, and FCC will be picking up from them.
“If they wish, people can also go on-line to www.fccdriveawayhunger.ca and on that site, you can also select the individual food bank in your town and make a donation,” he said.
Over the years FCC has collected more than 11 million pounds of food. This year the goal is five million pounds.
The FCC says that 38 per cent of the over 900,000 people who use a Canadian food bank each month are children, or more than 338,000 young people who regularly have to go hungry.
