Merry Christmas from the North Huron Community Food Share

   At this time, our Board of Directors would like to say “Thank You” for all the very generous donations to keep our Food Bank fully stocked over the Holiday Season. The ongoing generosity of you, our supporters, when asked time and again to donate more food, shows the compassion that local small towns and rural areas have for the less fortunate. A growing number of local groups, businesses and individuals continue to support our cause.

   We have seen a continuing rise in the use of the Food Bank, with 47 families accessing our services the first week in December this year. I think it’s important that people realize, we only “Supplement” the client’s existing food and they can only access our services, once a month. We still use the same criteria for allotting food to families based on the number of family members as was established in 1995, when the Food Bank opened. Unfortunately we have had to cut back on handing out vouchers for eggs and milk, so that we can use that money to buy more groceries to help the increasing number of clients. We are having new families come to the Food Share almost every week. These are not new families to our area, but rather families that now, due to health, lack of work or even marital situations, find themselves a little short of food each month. It takes a lot of soul searching to finally admit that you need to come to the Food Share for assistance.

   In a recent article in the Advance-Times, the Ontario Association of Food Banks released its 2014 Hunger Report this week, revealing that almost 375,000 individuals – more than one third children – are turning to Food Banks each month. “Unstable employment conditions, unsustainable wages and rising costs of food, transportation and shelter are forcing a growing number of Ontarians to have to choose between paying their bills and putting food on the table. The largest groups of food bank users are children, women over 18, single parent families, individuals who require social assistance and rental tenants.”

   The directors of the North Huron Community Food Share are continuing to come up with “Fund Raiser” ideas. We seem to be preaching the same message, every time I write an editorial, but the fact remains we are in need of food and monetary donations every month of the year, not just the Christmas Season. If you or your group have an idea to help us out, PLEASE contact our board listed on our website (www.nhfoodshare.ca) or “like us” on facebook. I’m proud to once again mention that all our directors and our many volunteers, are not paid for their valuable service to the Food Share. All monies and food that we receive, stay right here to serve Wingham and the surrounding area.

   As I’ve stated before, one of the best closing lines of any movie is from “Scrooge”. I leave you with the immortal last words spoken by Tiny Tim….”God Bless Us, Everyone”.

Gord Kaster – Media Relations

The students responsible for most of the work regarding food collection are from the FE Madill Club – Mustangs Making a Difference.  However, we were fortunate to have several other helpers from the student population to pitch in and help.  Last year we raised 700 items and this year our goal was to collect double that amount.  Overall, we raised over 1600 food items.  This was all due to the generous support of the students and teachers at FE Madill and the Community of Wingham.  

The Backpack Program in Huron supports families who cannot afford backpacks and school supplies for their children * the program is organized by the Food Banks of Huron County and donations are provided by many organizations in Huron County.

The North Huron Food Share is once again happy to support this initiative.  We will be handing out approximately 70 backpacks to local children this year.

Find attached a picture of the food collected by the Brussels Leo Club .

They had filled 7 blue bins to heaping, plus a few other large boxes and bags.

Here is a picture of Deb Morrison & I both receiving cheques of $1,232.50 from Rintouls Pools & Spas as proceeds from their fall sale.

This is the 8th year that they have made this donation.

Thank you to the Masonic Lodge in Fordwich who kindly donated $500 from the proceeds of their Community Breakfast in 2013.

The North Huron Community Food Share would like to thank the generous individuals, families, companies and organizations in the communities that we serve for helping us persevere through our busiest Christmas season to date. Of course, it is a good news/bad news scenario. The good news is that we were able to help out 136 families this December through the generosity of those around us. We would be  lost if  it were not for the compassion of our communities.
The bad news is that the number of those needing our help is growing, at an unprecedented rate. We see new faces each and every month at the Food Share. It is a little overwhelming, to say the least.

I feel as though we are always asking for your support, but the fact remains that without it, the fantastic work being done by our Operations Manager, volunteer staff, Board of Directors and others just wouldn’t be enough. Did I mention that there are no paid positions at the Food Share? Your donations go right to the people that need them!

The NHCFS does receive donations of food from the Exeter Distribution Centre from time to time, which, combined with your donations of food and money, enables us to keep the shelves somewhat filled at the Food Share. However, with the increase in demand every month, our coffers are in danger of being depleted.

The NHCFS tries to provide healthy food for our clients. Milk and egg vouchers from local grocery stores are available. Fresh produce (in season) from our community garden is available. When we are able to purchase groceries to supplement our stock, we opt for the healthiest we can find.

The Food Share also wishes to thank our local grocery stores for their support. The staff and management at all of our local stores assist us with replenishing stock reserves when sales allow, enabling us to really stretch those dollars we spend.  They also assist with food drives several times a year. Local stores play an important role in increasing our visibility in the communities we serve.

I would also like to extend gratitude to our volunteer staff at the Food Share. Without our volunteers, our clients would not be treated with the dignity and respect that is shown to everyone that enters our doors. If volunteering is something that may interest you, please contact us for details.

 As many of you may know, our Board Chairman, Gordon Kaster, has encountered a few health issues of late, and has had to resign his position of Chairman at the Food Share. Gordon has been the “face” of our Food Share for many, many years and will be welcomed back to the table when he can get there! In the meantime, each and every one of our Board of Directors has stepped up to fill Gord’s un-fillable shoes, so a final thank you as well to my fellow Board of Director members.

Please check out our website or Facebook page for more more information on how to volunteer, how to make a donation, or to find out what supplies our clients need:

www.nhfoodshare.ca
www.facebook.com/NHFoodShare

Lucknow Sentinal – by Garit Reid

The North Huron Community Food Share in Wingham is a place that not only provides food for people in need, it is also a place of trust and compassion that allows for people to feel welcome in their time of need. Food share chair Gord Kaster believes that trust is an important part of the process because without it you can’t begin to help the people that really need it.

Operations manager Joyce Johnston said there have always been challenges in her seven years working at the food share, but she said the community and area they serve have been so giving and she said without everyone’s constant support they wouldn’t be able to continue their work.

Since Christmas the food share has served 350 household, which includes 508 adults and 452 children. They have also had 31 new families (clients) come to the food share, which Johnston said is quite a large number.

“We are very blessed to live in this community because they are very giving. We don’t have to reach very far in order to get the help we need,” said Johnston. “It does worry me to a point if more families continue to come every single month that it will soon continue to deplete our store. Since Christmas I’ve had to do a lot of the shopping myself, just to keep the shelves stocked.” Johnston added that right now they are doing fine and said they will always welcome anyone who needs to use their service.

Johnston said the food share is currently looking for school lunch items, which she said is always important during the school year. She said they are looking for various items like drinking boxes, granola bars, pudding cups, cheese and crackers, etc. She said these are more important now than ever because most schools are peanut free and parents can’t use peanut butter, which Johnston said is the go to food staple for a lot of parents.

Kaster said he was overwhelmed with the generosity of people this past Christmas and even though they are always in need of donations, he knows the community is always there for the food share.

“It was amazing leading up to Christmas this year how much food and monetary donations were given. We got loads and loads of food where we didn’t know where to put some of it at times,” said Kaster. “However it doesn’t take long for that food to go and it’s always important for us to keep the word out there so we can keep donations going all year round.”

One of the things the food share is always looking for is volunteers and Kaster said it’s always important for any volunteer who want to help out that they always consider the needs of the clients.

“We can always use volunteers and we are actually low on volunteers for Wednesday mornings from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. So if anyone wants to volunteer they can contact us through our website at www.nhfoodshare.ca or they can contact the food share directly,” said Johnston. “Compassion is a key component to being a volunteer,” added Kaster. “We don’t want anyone who is judgmental. There are a lot of people who are only two or three paychecks away from using our facility and being considerate of people’s feeling is important. I think we have achieved a level of trust with people and we don’t want to break that trust.”

Johnston said they don’t know where they would be without the Exeter Distribution Centre who deliver food to them twice a month.

“I have been here seven years and our building used to be out front from our current location and our shelves didn’t have a fraction on them to what we have now,” said Johnston. “We gave out the bare minimum then and I think we are now able to give a bigger variety to our clients because of the distribution centre.

Kaster said there are a lot of positives for the food share like keeping the level of food they give to clients consistent as well as seeing well educated kids thinking of clever ways to donate. He said there are a lot of kids out there that have unselfishly donated to the food share instead of receiving presents for their birthday. He said it is just amazing.

“I asked a client just as she was leaving today what they wanted people to know about the food share. She said just let everyone know how much they appreciate the food share and the people who work there,” said Johnston. “They said it has really been a godsend and the people here are so friendly and welcoming and we just really appreciate it.”

For more information on the North Huron Community Food Share, go to nhfoodshare.ca or email them directly at nhfoodshare@gmail.com. People can also phone at 519-357-2277 ext. 4.

With spring now in the air and Easter fast approaching, the weather lately seems more appropriate for winter than for the joys of Easter. However we, at the North Huron Community Food Share would like to share our optimism for the upcoming spring and summer at the Food Share. I feel at times that we are always asking for your assistance in supporting the Food Share, but the fact of the matter remains that without your on-going support, we would be in dire straits.

We receive our support from many different sources. Some people express regret that they couldn’t raise more donations, but there are a lot of worthy causes out there and whatever the amount we receive, we are truly thankful. The list of clients using the Food Share has remained constant over the weeks since Christmas and although donations of food and monetary donations are still coming in, we are slowly finding that we need to purchase more food to keep our shelves full. We would be lost without the deliveries from the Exeter Food Distribution Centre every 2 to 3 weeks. We were able to purchase some Easter dinner hams to pass on to our clients. Everyone seems so appreciative of our efforts to help supplement their food supply. As I have mentioned before, we strive to give our clients healthy food choices and over the last few years, we started giving out vouchers for eggs and milk from our local stores.

A big “Thank You” needs to be also directed towards all the local food stores in the area for their support of our cause. They are very good to lets us know of up-coming specials, special pricing etc., which makes the dollars we spend go as far as possible.

I would also like to once again pass on a big “Thank You” to all the directors and volunteers of the Food Share for their willingness to step up and help out wherever needed. It would be impossible to serve our clientele as we do, without the compassion and understanding that these people possess. At this time, I would like to welcome our newest director, Jenn Moir to our board.

Please check our Website for much more info regarding us at  www.nhfoodshare.ca or if you have any questions please e-mail us at nhfoodshare@gmail.com

Thanks for your on-going support:

Gord Kaster – Chairman, North Huron Community Food Share