By Jaime Polmateer
The Elks of Canada is holding a nation-wide Charity Food Drive where local Elk lodges across Canada will compete to see who can raise the most for their respective local food banks.
The Clearwater Elks Lodge #499 will hold its drive on Aug. 4 from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m. at the Elks Breakfast, which takes place in the parking lot of the Elks Hall at 72 Taren Dr., just off the Old North Thompson Highway.
“The grand lodge, the head of the Elks in Ontario, they’ve been doing food bank things quite a lot and they sent a little advertisement and I said, ‘We can do this. We can do this at the pancake breakfast,” said Phyllis Bucknell, Clearwater branch president.
“Then all of our proceeds will go to the food bank and I thought we could put that all together on the fourth of August.”
Bucknell added the local food bank is often under the gun in terms of the strain on its resources and she said the people using the food bank’s services is up this year over last year.
The Clearwater Elks Lodge #499 is also no stranger when it comes to helping out the food bank, donating $1,000 to the service each year at Christmas.
“They help the needy,” said Bucknell.
“The people who can’t get up and have breakfast for the kids.”
Some of the main items being requested for the food drive are non-perishables like canned fruit and vegetables, spaghetti, baked beans and other canned food.
Bucknell also said she’d like to thank in advance anyone who participates in the Charity Food Drive.
