Food bank saves Christmas
Volunteers at the Westside food depot began distributing Christmas hampers this week, starting with families on Monday. This year, the Central Okanagan Community Food Bank is helping out about 800 Westside households. Volunteers pushed carts around the depot as families filled their hampers with items including a frozen turkey and all trimmings, mandarin oranges, pancake mix and syrup, Christmas desserts, milk and eggs, peanut butter and jam, grooming bags for teens and adults, stocking stuffers for kids and Christmas decorations. The Happy Hookers and another local group filled a table with knitted and crocheted items so everybody could go home with scarves, tuques and slippers. Christina Baird and Shaun Armstrong were picking up a hamper for their family on Monday. With three children ranging in age from four months to six years, Armstrong funds it’s hard to keep up when he gets laid off from his forestry work in the winter. They reach out to the food bank around December to be able to provide Christmas for their children. “We wouldn't be able to be able to do it without them,” said Armstrong. Baird is also part of the food bank’s Tiny Bundles program, which is designed to meet the nutritional needs of pregnant mothers and families with children under one year old. Participants are eligible for a weekly hamper containing milk, eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables and baby basics. Raelene Tamblyn brought along her granddaughter Avianna as she picked up a Christmas hamper on behalf of her daughter, who had started a new job that day. Her daughter moved to the Westside a couple of months ago to escape a bad situation. “She came with nothing,” said Tamblyn. “So this is huge.” With her family’s support, her daughter’s situation is improving and she is now employed. “She’s a survivor,” said Tamblyn. Thanks to the generosity of families, businesses and community groups on the Westside who sponsored families on the Westside, fewer people were at the depot Monday. “We should have had 80 families coming through here today with kids under 18,” said Jeanette Hudspeth, a director with the food bank “I got 49 families that are sponsored through the Westside community.” Hudspeth said the food bank had a 50 per cent increase in sponsorship over last year. “We are just blown away,” she said.