The North Huron Community Food Share is in need of donations both of Non-Perishable Food items as well as Monetary donations. As usual over the summer our reserves took a big hit. During the summer months we don’t receive the same amount of donations from individuals, service clubs,churches, schools & businesses that we enjoy through-out the rest of the year.
At our “year-end” meeting in late June, it was revealed that the use of the Food Share had increase by a staggering 17% over the previous year. This extra demand on our resources makes it necessary for us to once again make a public appeal. Once again this fall we are receiving donations of fresh produce from the local community as well as the Mennonite community.
I would be amiss if I didn’t mention the wonderful garden that Ms. Emily Beard (by herself) has behind Libro & B.D.O. We are now picking fresh produce every Tuesday evenings (more help need at 6:45) to take over to the Food Share in preparation for the arrival of the clients on wed. mornings. We also receive some food once or twice a month from the Food Distribution Centre in Exeter. This distribution centre started about 3 years ago and serves all the 11 Food Banks in Huron County. We are also in discussion with some local pork producers who would like to start making monthly donations of pork to this distribution centre. We hope to have some more info on this Distribution Centre on our new website (see information below) in the near future.
I would like to give you an example of how many clients we now service. In June this year we served 108 households (296 people served)….In July this year we served 94 households (262 people)….HOWEVER, August this year we served an overwhelming 142 households (404 people). These families each receive about $135.00 per family of 4 (larger families receive more) so it is easy to see how fast we go through our supplies. A few years ago, it was the norm to maybe have 25-30 families per month.
Not only are we needing donations, we need volunteers to help Wed. mornings at the Food Share, help pick-up donations & help stock shelves. If you would like to be part of our team and have a rewarding experience helping others, please contact Joyce Johnston at the Food Share – 519-357-2277 ext #4 or myself Gord Kaster at gdkaster@bell.net or 519-357-4833. I would like to welcome our 3 newest directors to our board. Betty Bateson & Doug Trenter both of Wingham as well as Anne McGlynn of Wroxeter. I hope this is a rewarding experience for them and we welcome their input. Also new this year is our new website….thanks to numerous people (mentioned in recent news articles) for their donation of time and expertise, we have an awesome website as well as a new computer system to track our clientele. Please check us out at www.nhfoodshare.ca for all the info you need about our mission, volunteering, making donations etc. Since virtually everyone is on facebook now, also check us out at www.facebook.com/NHFoodShare Once again, I would like to stress that the North Huron Community Food Share is operated entirely by “non paid” volunteers…every donation you make goes directly to the clients we serve.
Gord Kaster, Chairperson – North Huron Community Food Share – SO NO ONE GOES HUNGRY!