Inside the Kamloops Food Bank, shelves are seen inside with food and a variety of items available.
World Food Day 2026

‘You just see the best of everyone’: Kamloops Food Bank showcases food rescue, generosity on World Food Day

Oct 16, 2026 | 5:35 PM

KAMLOOPS — A little sorting can go a long way – especially when there’s a community to feed. Friday (Oct 16), on World Food Day, the Kamloops Food Bank showed how it makes the most of what comes through its doors.


Before the groceries can go home, there’s some unpacking to do at the Kamloops Food Bank.

The journey from warehouse to grocery cart comes with plenty of helping hands behind the scenes. Produce gets sorted and meat is kept cold, with a careful eye on what can still make a meal.

Bernadette Siracky, the president and CEO of the Kamloops Food Bank, says food recovery helps stretch what the community has to share.

“It’s incredible – the variety, so we’re able to give our clients a variety of product, very healthy food, we’re keeping it out of the landfill.”

There’s plenty of reason to make every delivery count. Food Bank BC’s 2025 Hunger Report found more than 113,000 people received help in March of that year, up 44 per cent from 2019.

“It really is about poverty,” adds Siracky. “It’s about people not being able to afford basic needs like housing, like food. Often, our clients are coming in here and food isn’t the only basic need that they struggle with. It’s one of them. You know, they struggle with finding affordable housing, many of our folks struggle with finding affordable child care.”

For someone making the first visit, the hardest part may come before any groceries reach the cart. Siracky wants the welcome to help ease that weight.

“There’s emotion coming in these doors and we want them to know they’re coming to a safe space, a respectful space that’s here to serve them for the circumstance they’re in right now – and it’s okay. We’re here. We have food to give you and we want to do that.”

As colder days approached, the holiday calendar is already filling up with food drives and fundraising, with some local collectives already making room for a different kind of Christmas get-together.

“People are calling us saying, ‘Hey, we want to do a feel-good moment with our team. We’re going to come and pack hampers and serve clients and give hams.’ It is a beautiful time to be a part of this community at Christmas, at the Food Bank, because you just see the best of everybody. It’s a beautiful place to be. The generosity, the compassion, thank-you. Thank-you, Kamloops, for helping us do what we do.”