If you’ve never had to worry about where your next meal is coming from, you’re one of the lucky ones.
On Sept. 26 the Barrie Food Bank kicked off its annual Thanksgiving Food Drive with a goal to raise 150,000 pounds of food in the month of October to help the nearly 2,800 people who avail themselves of the services monthly.
“It’s families, individuals, couples, single moms... it’s a mixture of every demographic. That number has pretty much stayed the same, it hasn’t fluctuated too much,” says Peter Sundborg, executive director with the Barrie Food Bank.
It works out to about 33,000 people a year. Sundborg says when people come in for food, the food bank’s philosophy aims to set them up with about three weeks worth of groceries so return visits aren’t as frequent.
“If people are having to come to the food bank every week to get a couple of days worth of food, then most of the time they’re going to be thinking about food,” he says.
“This way... they don’t have to worry about food so much,” he says, adding they can spend more time getting their lives in order.
“Our goal is to provide them with food, but to also help them get on the road to self-sufficiency.”
Since last Friday, 16 crates have been filled to the brim. Sundborg estimates that to reach their goal, they’ll have to fill 60 crates.
Gwillimbury Farms in Bradford just donated 12,000 pounds of carrots, onions and potatoes toward the drive.
“We get such great support from businesses, churches and schools. But our No. 1 donors are still individuals who just go to the grocery store and put donations in the grocery bins,” he says. “We’re so blessed, we have such great donors.”
Every grocery store in Barrie has a donation bin at the front entrances, and van drivers are on the road all day circulating the city picking food up for transport back to the warehouse at 42 Anne Street.
Sundborg says the food bank still has a ways to go before achieving their 150,000-pound goal.
“We’re not even close,” he laughs. “We’re only three days in and we’re sitting at probably 25,000 pounds.”
Once the Thanksgiving Food Drive is over, Sundborg says it’s smooth sailing into the Christmas Food Drive.
“From September to January we generally will generate three quarters of our food donations (for the year),” he says. “Whatever you’re putting in your grocery cart for your family, we need.”
For more information on the Barrie Food Bank, click here.
