Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

KAMLOOPS FOOD BANK

‘Food For All Kamloops’ fundraiser set for Sunday at Thistle Farm

Aug 25, 2022 | 4:12 PM

KAMLOOPS — With summer winding its way toward the fall, and the bounty of local food producers in full glory, a group of local citizens has created an event to help ensure no one in Kamloops goes hungry.

‘Food For All Kamloops’ is set for Sunday, August 28, and will feature local beverage producers, food and drink, as well as live music, with proceeds designated for the Kamloops Food Bank.

As the days get shorter, more and more of the crops at Thistle Farm are ready for market. The setting is perfect for a fundraising event for the Kamloops Food Bank.

“The Kamloops Food Bank was originally founded in the early-1980s as a way for people to deal with the drastic rise in inflation,” co-organizer Ginger Jessamine explains. “We as a country just saw the highest rise in inflation in 39 years.”

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Jessamine says the organizer group came together through a program at the Breath Integration Training and Coaching Centre. As part of that program, they’ve put together this event to help members of the community.

“They’ve been doing it for years and it is part of the training,” Jessamine explains. “Every year when people are enrolled in the training, they choose a local charity to give back to.”

The Kamloops Food Bank was thrilled the group chose the organization as the recipient of the funds raised from the event.

“Their creative approach, and really the power of the community allows us to do what we do here at the food bank,” Director of Fund Development Corra Gassner tells CFJC Today. “We’re beyond grateful for things like this. The folks with the ‘Food For All’ fundraiser, I mean, we’re so thankful that they’re here, and that they’re giving back in this way.”

There are plenty of tickets remaining for the event, available online. The organizing team is hoping to sell as many as possible in order to reach a lofty goal.

“We are aiming at raising $10,000 to donate directly to the Kamloops Food Bank,” Jessamine says.

That money will help the Food Bank continue to run its Food Recovery Program, which diverts nearly 70,000 kilograms of viable product from going into the landfill.

“We have to be out there seven days a week with our trucks, and then to sort all that product, with the infrastructure — the walk-in coolers and freezers,” Wes Graham, Food Bank Operations Manager, explains. “Having support like this allows us to divert more than 2,000,000 lbs of perishable product from the landfill each year.”

The event is set for Sunday, August 28, from 4:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. at Thistle Farm in Westsyde. Owner Dieter Dudy donated the use of the property to help ensure the event will be a success.

“There couldn’t have been a more symbiotic relationship between Dieter and Thistle Farm, and what we’re trying to accomplish here,” Jessamine says.