Food bank frantic for donations as need outstrips food stores for Christmas hampers
By Kyra Hoggan
Some local residents will be having a very lean Christmas this year if the rest of us don’t rally for them, according to Castlegar Harvest Food Bank manager Deb McIntosh.
She said it’s been a particularly lean year, especially without the CP Rail Holiday Train making tracks here in 2016.
That doesn’t make for less need, though – McIntosh and her roughly 20 volunteers are trying to assemble 233 hampers for families with as many as seven people … and finding themselves running short of food.
“It’s just been an off year,” she said, adding that many residents/organizations/businesses have been wildly generous, but it’s just not enough.
So she’s hoping anyone who can dig a little deeper will.
“We need things like cereal, rolled oats, juice boxes, pastas, sauces, soups, Ichiban noodles, canned vegetables, crackers, rice, any kind of canned protein like beans, ham, fish, stews – that kind of thing,” she said.
While cash is always, always welcome, she said that if you have time to grab groceries, that would be great, too, as volunteers are already hard at work putting together hampers.
They’ll be in the banquet room of the Sandman Inn today at tomorrow, from 9 a.m. to roughly 7 p.m.
“But if you want to come later, just let us know, and we’ll make sure there’s someone here to open the door for you and welcome you – we’ll stay as late as it takes,” she said.
McIntosh can be reached at 250-608-1047.
