The BC Interior Community Foundation provided a $13,000 cheque to the Kamloops Food Bank on Friday (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

FOOD BANK DONATION

Kamloops Food Bank receives $13,000 from BC Interior Community Foundation

May 1, 2020 | 1:18 PM

KAMLOOPS — During the pandemic, the community has come together to help the Kamloops Food Bank. On Friday, the food bank received a generous donation from the BC Interior Community Foundation.

The $13,000 cheque presented also included funds donated from The Stollery Foundation. The food bank will now use the money to buy much-needed supplies.

“That’s an incredibly significant donation. That’s going to help us purchase product and serve clients for a good month,” said executive director of the Kamloops Food Bank Bernadette Siracky. “We were really honoured to receive a call from the Stollery Foundation as soon as the crisis started and they connected and said, ‘What can we do to support your efforts? We really want to buy food. We hear that there’s some issues with the supply chain.’ Initially, there truly was; we weren’t able to purchase really anything more than a couple cases of soup at a time.”

Past president of the BC Interior Community Foundation Hugh Fallis added, “I think it’s great. We’re a relatively small foundation but like to help the community as much as we can, and this cheque in particular is working with the Stollery Foundation in Edmonton who has deep hearts in Kamloops. We work in conjunction with them giving donations to various organizations in Kamloops throughout the year.”

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The food bank has been amazed to receive this kind of support during a difficult time for everyone.

“We have had dozens of grassroots efforts pop up in support of the food bank, so people are selling T-shirts, books and art, and they’re creating events like the porch pictures,” noted Siracky. “It’s just popping up all over the place, and thank you for recognizing that. People are going to need us, people who likely have never needed us before will need a bit more support, and I think our community really realizes that.”

Meantime, Rotary volunteers are working rotating shifts outside the food bank, sorting some of the 70-thousand pounds of food received two weekends ago during the spring food drive.

“Because of social distancing, we couldn’t sort in the warehouse like we normally would — or Bernadette’s volunteers normally would,” said President of the Kamloops Daybreak Rotary Roxanna Ferguson. “Everything just came to the sea cans. We filled seven sea cans full of food and now, in small groups with social distancing, we’re sorting all the food into the different food groups.”