By Chad Klassen

Basics for Babies set to help the city’s youngest, most vulnerable

Nov 16, 2017 | 4:11 PM

KAMLOOPS — Hotel 540 will be a hub of activity tomorrow morning, as the 11th annual B-100 Basics for Babies event takes place.

It’s an event that stocks the shelves at the Kamloops Food Bank with everything a baby could need for the entire year – from diapers to formula – and even baby toys.

If the food bank doesn’t get everything it needs in donations, the money raised allows the non-profit to purchase the items to keep its baby bank stocked.

“It’s easy to support. You can come down, have a really great breakfast, enjoy fabulous entertainment, and know that you’re supporting a cause that is just so important,” said executive director of the Kamloops Food Bank Bernadette Siracky. “We owe it, we owe it to these infants in our community to have the basics. That’s literally what it is.”

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From 7-10 a.m., people can drop off donations, whether monetary or baby items. It all helps the Kamloops Food Bank provide for their youngest clients — 1,000 of which are under two years old. 

“We purchase formula, diapers, baby food, hygiene product year-round from the money we raise at this breakfast,” noted Siracky.

Gabrielle Bray works at the food bank. She has for three years now. But 15 years ago, Bray was raising a 5-year-old boy all on her own after her husband died of a heart attack. 

She leaned on the food bank for some of her baby supply needs. 

“It was super helpful. It was a weight off,” said Bray. “I could come here and get some help. A little less stress. There’s the obvious thing about the bank account. If I could get diapers here, I could buy more meat and cheese or something that was more expensive on my grocery bill, so it was a good way to help juggle money.”

Bray now likes to give back thanks to that experience, and she can empathize with other struggling mothers that needs supplies for their baby. 

“Every day being at the food bank, I receive so much from the community they donate, then we have these big events like Basics for Babies and the food drives, where it’s so obvious that all the community comes out,” said Bray. “It warms your heart. It makes you feel like everything is okay in the world.”

A record 400 people showed up to the breakfast last year, and the hope is to have more as the food bank looks out for the city’s most vulnerable. 

“Poverty really affects these infants in a way that most people that live above the poverty line don’t quite understand. We see it everyday here,” said Siracky. “There’s families that are very caring and loving, they’re taking care of these babies and they need a little extra support. I think it’s really up to us to help them do that.”

CFJC-TV will be broadcasting live from Hotel 540 from 7:30-8:30 a.m. with hosts Susan Edgell and Tanya Cronin.