By Adam Donnelly

Facing Hunger: The Kamloops Food Bank’s FoodShare program

Feb 19, 2019 | 4:47 PM

KAMLOOPS — From January to October of 2018, the Kamloops Food Bank helped feed over 6,000 residents of our city, while supplying perishable and non-perishable food to over 60 different community agencies who feed those in need. Since the beginning of 2019, CFJC Today has been documenting the food bank; from how they get nearly two million pounds of food from across the community, to the volunteers who work countless hours to make sure that food gets to those who need it. In part one of the series ‘Facing Hunger looks at how the Kamloops Food Bank has changed the way they get the food that feeds our community.

Shortly before 7:00 am on a Sunday morning at the Kamloops Food Bank — the start of the week for Kamloops Food Bank driver Jovan Rodrigue. Jovan is prepping one of three trucks the Food Bank uses to gather thousands of pounds of food every week.

“I drive to the stores all over town and pick up food and then bring it back here [to the Food Bank] and unload it… then we sort through it,” Rodrigue explains.

The FoodShare program at the Kamloops Food Bank started a little over 12 years ago with the goal of diverting perishable food from the landfill and making it available to individuals and families in Kamloops who can’t always afford wholesome, nutritious food.

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“We started in late 2006, and it was a grassroots effort,” Food Bank Executive Director Bernadette Siracky says. “It was going into a few of the grocery stores in town and recognizing this issue with waste. In 10 years, we’ve got every single grocery store on board… and they give us all the perishable product they’d normally be throwing in the landfill.”

It took some time to get the various grocery stores around the community on board with FoodShare.

“There was a lot of resistance at first with the stores,” Siracky recalls. “I think they were concerned about liability issues. They were concerned that we perhaps wouldn’t have the temperature-safe transportation and distribution and storage required, and you know what? At first, we didn’t.”

Neil Allkins, Store Manager at the Sahali Save-On Foods says the program has grown thanks to the effort of the Food Bank team.

“It’s definitely evolved,” Allkins says. “All five Save-On stores in town are diverting 100 per cent of our food waste to the Food Bank.”

Since its humble beginnings, the program has grown exponentially. 2018 was the biggest year ever for the Food Share program, as nearly 2 million pounds of food was collected and distributed by the Food Bank, instead of going into the landfill.

“I remember when I was driving on the weekends and thought 3,000 pounds in one day was a huge day,” Rodrigue remembers. “Now we’re getting probably 6,000 pounds a truck, a day.”

“From meat, dairy, eggs, bread, produce — it’s absolutely stunning,” Siracky says. “The retail value in a year is closing in on $7 million.”

For the grocery stores, the partnership with the food bank has been mutually beneficial, as it lessens their environmental impact while feeding those in need.

“There were over 850,000 pounds that diverted from the landfill last year to the Food Bank that would have gone basically in the garbage,” Allkins says. “We’ve had a great partnership for many years. They’re very easy to work with. They help us out a lot and I’m sure we help them out, too. It’s a real win-win for the both of us.”

The FoodShare program Siracky and her team at the Food Bank have established is a model other food banks in the province, and across Canada can look to in order to build their capacity to feed the hungry in their communities.

For Rodrigue, he feels lucky to be a part of a team that’s able to offer life-giving food to those in our community who might otherwise go without.

“I think it’s a huge benefit for the community. I think to keep nutritious and useable food out of the landfill is very important… and I think every community should do it. I’m proud to be a part of this kind of thing.”