Editor, The Times:
The Christmas Campaign for 2014 is now underway. As Clearwater and District Food Bank has done in the past, we are counting on the community for it’s support. We are in need of food, funds, new toys/gifts, and volunteers.
Volunteers will be around town selling raffle tickets and promoting the Clearwater Community Christmas Concert in support of the Food Bank.
The Christmas Concert will be at Dutch Lake Community Centre on Dec. 6 from 6 to 9 p.m. There will be live music, a silent auction, bake sale and raffle draw. This will be a family friendly event and will include an auction table just for the kids.
The Food Bank has good news for a change. After last year being so grim, our numbers have seemed to adjust to more normal levels for 2014. We also had a very successful gleaning season, meaning we spent very little on fresh produce. George Mattenley donated some land for us to use and we planted 300 potato plants and with the help of our Vavenby friends we harvested a very nice yield. We made jams, jellies, butters, and preserves with plums, apples, rhubarb and berries that were generously donated from local trees and gardens.
There have been changes with the National Food Share Program that have been very beneficial. We no longer need to drive to 100 Mile House to receive food shipments, they are now delivered to us, thanks to the support of Best Express Trucking Ltd. The shipments are far more frequent and of a more mixed variety, therefore smaller, so we no longer require extra storage and expense. The only drawback to this is we have not been able to stockpile food items so we will have to purchase a lot more for the Christmas Hampers.
Another new support stream is the Clearwater Curiosity Shoppe Thrift Store. Along with supporting the Hospital they have chosen to support the Food Bank as well. All of this, combined with frugal money management, has put us in a much better place than last year at this time.
We are still appealing to the community for help with the Christmas Hamper Drive. With our numbers returning more to normal we are anticipating the Christmas Hampers to be approximately 120 for 2014.
The Hamper Applications are available Nov. 1 to Dec. 6 at the Food Bank. We are open Monday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 12 noon. If you would like to donate, volunteer, or are interested in sponsoring a family, please call us at 250-674-3402 or come to the Food Bank at 741 Clearwater Village Rd.
Clearwater and District Food Bank
