Kamloops Food Bank hopes for successful food drive as client base grows

“People are having to go on EI, they’re getting laid off, some of them the first time in their lives,” said Kamloops Food Bank Executive Director Bernadette Siracky. “We’re expecting our numbers to increase dramatically over the next three months.”

The Kamloops Food Bank is gearing up for the 24th Rotary Food Drive on Saturday, hoping to fill its shelves to support an ever-growing clientele.

Siracky hopes the event will bring in enough donations to keep shelves stocked for the next six months.

“All you have to do is turn around in your kitchen and your pantry and fill a bag with food and put it as far down your driveway as possible,” she said.

With physical distancing regulations in place, the food bank has come up with a plan to keep all of its volunteers safe.

“We’ve worked with city administration, public health, and we’ve created a process where all of the government directives are indeed being followed,” Siracky said. “When people go out in a car and you see them gathering bags, they’re actually from the same household.”

When volunteers return to the food bank with the donations they will unload their own vehicles at “drop zones.”

“The drop zones are a minimum of eight metres apart,” Siracky said. “So, we’re really set up well to honour all of the directives while we’re still gathering food.”

Bio-degradable yellow bags have been distributed to Kamloops residents, and the food bank hopes they will be filled with only non-perishable items.

“Things you have at home like hearty soups, tuna, pasta, pasta sauce, etc. and we will definitely get that out to our clients.”

Rotarians will begin their pick-ups at 9:00 a.m. Saturday.

by Jill Sperling

Kamloops Food Bank hopes for successful food drive as client base grows

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