A spree of grants to the Squamish Food Bank will help take a bite out of hunger in the community.
Last week, the society received $2,500 from the Squamish Foundation to aid in the purchase of food supplies for the fall.
“This donation means we know that we can help feed our families, seniors and residents who have fallen on hard times, and meeting their needs is the reason we are here,” society president Lorna Van Straaten said.
The organization also received a $15,000 grant from the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation, money targeted specifically to pay down a bank loan on a van used to deliver food around Squamish. This assistance will help the board to better position the Squamish Food Bank financially, Van Straaten said.
“It eliminates the monthly loan we were paying, which means more of our monthly proceeds can go to food purchases,” she said. “We owe so much to the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation for this assistance and look forward to exploring new ways that the van can help residents with their food needs.”
Squamish Food Bank volunteers hit the Squamish Valley Music Festival last weekend in a fundraising drive to collect refunds off of recyclable bottles and cans. Crews picked up 38 “mega bags” of recycling from festival campgrounds.
The food bank was hoping to get 60 volunteers to visit the campsites and other festival sites. In partnership with the Regional Recycling organization, the non-profit received 50 per cent of the proceeds being donated to the program.
An amazing amount of material was returnable, Van Straaten said. Unfortunately the group had to leave cans and bottles behind because they simply didn’t have enough manpower to collect them all, she said. It will take the group a couple of weeks to tally their haul.
“We could have actually done better,” Van Straaten said, noting the food bank will be prepared for the job next year.
