A familiar face among Port Alberni’s less fortunate is delivering a special initiative to raise funds for the Port Alberni Shelter Society.
Cindy Sjoholm will be doing some fundraising for the Port Alberni Shelter Society.
The shelter society hired Sjoholm in March shortly after she parted ways with the Bread of Life after six years. The new position keeps her connected to the community she came to know through the Bread of Life soup kitchen, she said.
“I took this job because it’s all about the clients, that’s where my heart is at,” she said.
She spends three days a week at Phoenix House. Some of the clients are familiar faces from BOL but there are differences.
“At Bread of Life we dealt with problems on a mass scale. But here, it’s more one-on-one,” she said.
“Here, you’re in someone’s home.”
Coordinating the basket fundraising project is just one of Sjoholm’s duties as the new special projects coordinator with the shelter society and Phoenix House.
The project involves dropping baskets of popcorn bags and peanut brittle from Coombs Country Candy off at various businesses to sell. The baskets can be found at12 different locations including M&D Auto Parts, the RCMP detachment and BMO on Third Avenue.
Sjoholm is going to approach city hall and the Port Alberni Fire Department to ask if she can set the baskets up there.
“The RCMP are my best customers. Their basket empties fast,” she said.
Patrons who buy the goodies can leave their $2 donation in a bottle that is attached to the basket. Sjoholm gathers up the donations once a week.
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