Food bank holding drive for fresh food
Saturday’s effort seeks potatoes, sweet potatoes, apples, oranges, zucchinis
WATERLOO REGION — When people think of food banks, they think of canned beans and soup, not fresh fruit and vegetables. That is partly because the Food Bank of Waterloo Region has never asked the public for fresh fruit and vegetables, until now.
This Saturday is the food bank’s first fresh food drive, and volunteers at two grocery stores will be on standby with refrigerated trucks to collect fresh goods from shoppers.
“It’s an interesting way to talk to the community about how we use fresh food in our programs,” said Wendi Campbell, chief executive director of the Food Bank of Waterloo Region. More than 60 per cent of the food distributed by the food bank is fresh, she added.
Right now, the food bank collects fresh food through partnerships with local farms and grocery stores to help provide 35,000 meals each week. The local agency hopes to boost the amount of fresh food it already collects with this one-day community drive. That fresh food will then make its way into food hampers that will be distributed next week.
Most needed items for Saturday’s food drive include potatoes, sweet potatoes, apples, oranges and zucchinis.
“We know that fresh food is such an important part of what we do,” Campbell said, adding that it is a huge part of providing healthy, balanced meals to those who need it.
“We always encourage people to think about what is in their own refrigerators and their own pantries when they donate.”
Fresh food is trending at the food bank, and Campbell said the agency is always thinking of new ways to collect and distribute fresh food safely. The food bank recently launched a fresh food centre where staff and volunteers process and freeze fresh food to use all year round.
If the fresh food drive is a success, it may become a regular part of the local food bank’s annual collection events, Campbell said.
The Harvest Food Drive is on this Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Sobeys on Ira Needles Boulevard in Kitchener and Sobeys on Bridgeport Road in Waterloo.
It is just one of several collection events that are part of the Food Bank of Waterloo Region’s annual fall food drive. To learn more, visit www.thefoodbank.ca.
On Tuesday, Oct. 2, local municipal election candidates in Cambridge are invited to sort food at the Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank’s distribution centre. Sorting will take place throughout the day from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.