The Cranbrook Food Bank collected more than 20,400 pounds of food in a one-day drive April 27.
“This is more than double the amount collected last year,” the Food Bank said on a social media post. “What an incredible day! Thank you to everyone who donated.”
Food Bank crews distributed the the donation bags to households all over town on April 20 and 21. Those bags included a checklist of the most needed items, like canned goods, school snacks, cooking and baking supplies, rice and pasta, household and hygenic products …
One week later, the crews returned to pick up the bags — 20,436 pounds worth of food and other goods was collected.
“We know times are tough, so every pound of food means so much,” the Food Bank said. “Huge shout out to all the volunteers who made this event a huge success! Cranbrook, you are amazing and we are humbled once again by your incredible generosity.”
Christmas and the holiday season is a familiar time for food bank support, but there is never a downtime for the clients and the services the Food Bank provides..
“Right now we have over 2,700 active clients, so we are feeding just over 12 per cent of Cranbrook,” said Julie Rose, Executive Director of the Cranbrook Food Bank, in an earlier interview with the Cranbrook Townsman. “As the need increases we need more and more support from our community.
“Unfortunately, as need increases, donations do decrease. Everyone’s having to dig a little bit deeper. We go to the grocery store, things have been costing a lot more over the past three years. Groceries have gone up over 40 per cent. It’s tough for everyone. And tough for us, because of our increased client numbers. Even though we can purchase wholesale, it’s more expensive for us as well — our dollars don’t stretch as far either.”