Lois Huber unpacks food donations from stores in the community.
Joan Janzen
of The Clarion
On Monday afternoon in the third week of November, volunteers Heather Medcoff and Lois Huber were hard at work assembling food hampers at the Kindersley and District Food Bank, preparing for the monthly distribution of hampers to follow. Leslie Omness and Audrey Heit were also helping.
“We put food donations away on shelves, pack hampers and clean up the food bank too.” Heather Medcoff explained. “We also put away food that’s donated by stores, and later we hand out the hampers.”
[emember_protected for=”2″ custom_msg=’For more on this story, please see this week’s print edition of The Clarion.’]
It was estimated an average of 70 hampers go out each month within the Kindersley and Eston regions, sometimes more, sometimes less. Applications for food hampers are handled by Leslie Omness, the Crisis Centre and the Salvation Army.
When asked if the food bank receives adequate food donations, Heather assured me they can always use more. “A lot of times we have to buy groceries using cash donations from companies, etc. It’s very expensive to buy groceries, so any donations we can get are so welcome.”
All together there are about a dozen volunteers from the communities of Kindersley and Eston who ensure the food bank keeps running smoothly. “It’s important to give back to the community, and it’s really important to me to make sure that nobody goes hungry,” Heather said. “We’re so lucky to live where we do, and be able to give back to the community.”
Aside from her volunteer work at the food bank, Heather also helps deliver Meals on Wheels when needed. But what she finds most gratifying of all is watching children who are brought into the food bank.
“Lots of times the stores will donate little things that we can pack in hampers for children and just seeing the joy on their faces is wonderful.”
[/emember_protected]
