Drier will allow food bank to preserve donated fruit
Santa came early to the Lake Country Food Bank, when Rotary past-president Ken Guido wrote a cheque for $5,000 to cover the cost of a new industrial-strength food dryer.
The money comes from Rotary’s promotion of SaveOn-Foods gift cards, which have so far generated approximately $45,000 in funding for the food bank.
The food drier itself is worth $1,435. The balance of the cheque will go to general operations.
The food bank needs the drier, because it receives shipments of fruit and produce every day from stores such as Save-On-Foods and IGA.
Those perishable foods go into hampers distributed to needy families on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
But fresh fruit that arrives on a Thursday may not still be usable by Tuesday the following week. Even with refrigeration.
The answer — dry it!.
Apples, pears, peaches, plums, strawberries all can be dried, and then be available for use anytime. Even mangoes can be turned into fruit leather.
The food bank has long been supported by the Rotary Club of Lake Country. Indeed, without Rotary’s participation, the food bank might not have its new building at all.
Rotary took the lead in organizing support and funding for the new building on Bottom Wood Lake Road, next to the Seniors’ Centre.
After several years of seeking alternate sites, Rotary concluded that only a permanent building would serve the region’s needs. By lobbying for public support, Rotary won a $100,000 grant from Aviva Life Assurance. Combined with land provided by the municipality and labour donated by the apprenticeship program at Okanagan College, plus donations, that was enough to construct and complete the present building, worth approximately $1 million.
Today, the food bank has two floors stacked to the ceiling with supplies, and services a network of helping institutions up and down the valley, from Peachland in the south to Armstrong in the north, west to Cherryville and sometimes beyond to Nakusp and Revelstoke.
The Lake Country Food Assistance Society owns two trucks, which are on the road six days a week, distributing supplies to and from other food banks.
The Save-On gift cards, promoted by Rotary, come in denominations from $50-$200, and work like cash. But every dollar spent using a gift card provides 8% directly to the food bank.
An anonymous backer adds another 8%. And because of the food bank’s purchasing power, that 16% turns into as much as 40% on bulk food purchases.
Gift cards are available from any Rotary member, or online at cards@lakecountryrotary.ca.