Food bank collecting for Christmas season
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Updated: November 25, 2009 3:27 PM
The Summerland Food Bank is collecting food for the community this Christmas.
Food bank president Leventine Adams said the donated food will be distributed on Dec. 18.
She said staff call it ‘Christmas Day’ because children receive gifts and food is given out.
Adams asked anyone considering donating not to give tomato soup as the organization seems to receive large amounts of it, but any other food item can be used.
She noted that people who are donating money benefit with a tax receipt given for any donation over $5.
The funds, said Adams, are just as useful as the food donations.
“Money gives us the flexibility to buy the things that are required.”
She said the community has given much in providing food donations over the years. "Summerlanders have been so generous," she said.
In a few instances, she said the food bank has been receiving stale-dated foods, some of it ranging up to seven years old.
“We are getting stuff that’s very, very stale-dated.”
Adams said the food bank can still possibly use food that is a year old.
She noted that especially in the Okanagan, canned goods are common.
She said the home canning may discolour a bit in a year, but is usually still okay.
Beyond that, food can be more likely to go bad.
Recently, the food bank received items that were marked expired in 2002.
Adams said the stale-dated food is put aside on a marked table to let people know it has expired.
“With people, we can’t take that chance,” she added.
Adams said the food bank does not have particular goals set for this Christmas in Summerland.
She noted that the recent Halloween for Hunger campaign brought in fewer goods than last year.
“But listening to the kids, I think they didn’t go out to as many places. They had a shortage of kid power,” she said.
Collections of food will also occur at area schools.
Adams said many of the children at the schools are also clients of the food bank, pointing out the economic downturn earlier this year has affected everyone.
