What’s in the bag? You decide!
- Details
- Published on Thursday, September 15, 2016
Photo by Tony Eu. Look for these drop boxes located at businesses around town.
By Tony Eu
Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
Since May 9, Farm Credit Canada (FCC) has been doing their annual Drive Away Hunger food drive. Although the Oct. 14 end is in sight, it’s still not too late to lend a helping hand.
Monetary donations can be dropped off at any FCC office in Canada and designated to go to the food bank of your choice across Canada. If you want your money to stay local, Neepawa, Minnedosa and Carberry all have food banks that could always use some extra help.
Monetary donations can also be made online, at fcc-fac.ca, by going to the ‘In Your Community’ tab and clicking on ‘FCC Drive Away Hunger’. Online, you can designate your money to be used nationally, provincially or locally, although the only local food bank the website has listed is the one in Minnedosa.
If you’d rather donate food, you can drop off your donation at any of the FCC offices or at any of the ‘drop boxes’ around town. The drop boxes are located at a number of local businesses. Schools in the area are also be lending a hand, collecting food and donations from students.
In addition to receiving donations, on Friday, Sept. 23, from 2 pm to 5 pm, members from the FCC will be selling pre-packaged food bundles to be donated to the drive at the Neepawa-Gladstone Co-op grocery in Neepawa.
The food collected in the area will stay in the area, with it being distributed to the three local food banks.
In Neepawa, the food bank is looked after by the Salvation Army.
“Most of this food goes towards our Christmas hampers,” said Amanda Naughton-Gale, the manager of the Salvation Army, about the use of the food received from Drive Away Hunger.
“The vast majority [goes to] the about 100 families we end up helping out, plus or minus, at the Christmas time,” Naughton-Gale continued, “but then any of the extra goes back into our regular food bank, which we run all year round,” she added.
The Salvation Army food bank helps out between 55 to 65 families in the greater Neepawa area year round, which ends up being over 1,000 meals served every year.
In order to provide that many meals though, the food bank needs more than just one food drive.
“[At] NACI, the kids do the Scare Away Hunger food drive at Halloween and that’s the other big one that happens,” Naughton-Gale said.
“There’s lots of little initiatives that happen throughout the year, a lot of the churches do little food drives, we’ve had food drives done by Scouts or Guides and other small groups throughout the year, but [Drive Away Hunger and Scare Away Hunger] really are our most major ones and really kind of stock our shelves for the rest of the year,” Naughton-Gale added.
She also expressed that the hampers that they give out contain more than just foodstuffs. They also contain hygiene products, something that are always in short supply.
The hampers typically contain $120 to $150 worth of food and other essentials, depending on the needs of the family receiving it. Because of the size of the hampers, a family can only receive one once every two months.
In Minnedosa, the food bank is located in the United Church, although a separate group runs the actual food bank. Donations from Drive Away Hunger are put directly into their system and used throughout the year.
Like Neepawa, Scare Away Hunger is their other, yearly, major food drive.
They also have the Holiday Train, which is a huge boost to their supplies, though they usually only get the train every other year, this year being an off year. As well as these bigger drives, there are a number of smaller food drive projects in the community throughout the year.
For the Minnedosa food bank, as with nearly all food banks, these drives are vitally important in keeping them operational.
“We’re not funded by anybody, it’s all by donation, it’s all volunteer work,” said Debby Gaiser, one of the volunteers at the Minnedosa food bank.
Despite only being open twice a week and with a one hamper per month limit, the Minnedosa food bank still hands out over 900 hampers every year, helping between 75 and 90 clients per month.
As a final statement, Gaiser wanted to add that, “We appreciate the public’s support and hope they’ll keep supporting us.”
The final food bank in the area, the Carberry Community Food Cupboard, is run by the Carberry United Church. Like the Minnedosa food bank, the food cupboard puts the food from Drive Away Hunger directly into their system to be used throughout the year. As with both Neepawa and Minnedosa, Scare Away Hunger is Carberry’s other main food drive.
The Carberry Community Food Cupboard is usually accessed about 120 times per year, which amounts to between 300 and 400 bags of food.
For the food cupboard, FCC’s Drive Away Hunger is a huge part in their operations.
“It keeps us well stocked,” said Peggy Reid a volunteer with the food cupboard. “There are certain times of the year where people are more generous and certain times when something comes up and it keeps us over those leaner moments,” she concluded.
Regardless of how much or how little you can give, any contribution is greatly appreciated.
