This year’s pandemic and economical hardships have created a much greater demand for the services of our local food banks here in the Cowichan Valley.
More than half of all households that rely on food banks are families with children; half these again are headed by single parents. In total, almost 40 per cent of recipients of food bank assistance are under the age of 18. Other vulnerable groups include low-wage earners, those with inadequate employment, and people on disability income assistance. Hundreds of individuals and families require assistance on a weekly basis and you can help.
Next week will be your chance to help meet this crisis, without leaving the comfort of your homes. Teams of volunteers from organizations, businesses, churches and families will be bringing paper bags to your doorsteps at the beginning of next week Sept. 21 to Sept. 23. They will be covering most subdivisions in Duncan, Cowichan Bay, and Mill Bay so look for your bag at your front door. These bags will have the information on how you can help printed right on them. You can fill these bags with any excess canned goods, dried food goods, cereal etc. (all non-perishable) and put them on your porch or doorstep by 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26.
The same teams will come again through their neighbourhoods and collect your donations. All foods collected go to the local food banks like the Duncan Food Basket Society, the Mill Bay Food Bank, Lake Cowichan Food bank and Chemainus food bank.
In the Cowichan Valley, the BCTFD event includes more than 200 volunteers providing hours of service to the community. They have been able to visit up to 6,000 homes and collect more than 12,000 pounds of non-perishable food for the food banks in years past, enough to sustain the food banks through the fall.
This province-wide annual project, this year in its 12th year, collected more than 600,000 pounds of food for the over 50 community food banks in their local areas. This event is coordinated on the same day each year.
For additional information visit foodbanksbritishcolumbia.ca and bctfooddrive.org.