‘Kamloops showed up’: fall food drive nets 46,000 pounds of food for Kamloops Food Bank

“That doesn’t include the 330 starfish backpacks we’re giving out weekly. It doesn’t include the nine smaller food banks in the region that we serve nor the 53 community agencies that receive perishable product from us,” Bernadette Siracky, president & CEO of the Kamloops Food Bank, said.

“We’re giving out a lot of food every month, tens of thousands of pounds of healthy product to our community. We’re not solving poverty but we’re meeting a basic human need and that’s food.”

Last fall’s food drive brought in record-breaking 75,000 pounds of non-perishable food donations, while the spring food drive earlier this year brought in another 60,000 pounds. While this fall’s totals were short of those levels, Siracky said it is still a significant amount.

“46,000 pounds of food equates to about $180,000 worth of product that we just received into our warehouse in one day,” Siracky said. “That is going to take us through to the Christmas period.”

Siracky said the Kamloops Food Bank is grateful for all donations, more so now as it comes as a time when even people who don’t rely on the food bank are being forced to keep an eye on their spending.

“We were wondering what the support would be like this time around as grocery prices are going up for everybody, and it’s really difficult to find excess dollars to give donations or to give extra food but as usual, Kamloops showed up,” Siracky said.

“[This weekend] was just an opportunity to celebrate community and be grateful for the generosity.”

– With files from Elora McCormack

by Victor Kaisar

‘Kamloops showed up’: fall food drive nets 46,000 pounds of food for Kamloops Food Bank

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