It is with much pride that the Chestermere Regional Food Bank is gearing up to celebrate their 10th anniversary! They have seen ups, downs, moves, staffing and volunteer changes – but they remain a vital part of our city.
We are embarking on a ten week feature in count down to the big anniversary celebration on May 28th! This event will be held in the No Frills parking lot and will have everything from live music, a BBQ, silent auction, face painting, bouncy castles and much more! There will also be a chance for local vendors to participate at the event in a very unique way so stay tuned as more details will be coming out over our countdown!
In the coming weeks, we’ll be taking a look on a year by year basis on how the Chestermere Regional Food Bank came to be, the changes they’ve seen and what the future holds for them. But like any good story, we must go back to the beginning. It is also the hope that this look into the Food Bank will increase awareness and support for an organization that truly does ‘Feed The Need’.
Back in the fall of 2006, an ad appeared in the local newspaper requesting help for the Southeast Rockyview Food Bank. It seemed that the majority of clients were from Chestermere and since they were picking up food donations from the Chestermere Safeway and the Chestermere Recreation Centre; taking them to the Food Bank in Indus; turning them into hampers and bringing them back to Chestermere, their volunteers were getting just a little burned out.
Shortly thereafter, a meeting was held at the Indus Rec Centre at which three local residents attended – Doug Goudie, Cindy Verbonac and Mardi Oel. It was at that meeting where they were strongly encouraged to form their own Food Bank and were assured that Southeast Rockyview would help in any way possible. Doug Goudie took this back to the Chestermere Lions Club and with the help of Chris Bishop from the Southeast Rockyview Food Bank, preparations began to start our own Food Bank – the Chestermere Regional Food Bank.
That Christmas, Cindy and Doug prepared and distributed Christmas hampers in Indus, bringing the last quarter of 2006 total for Chestermere to 15 hampers. At that time, the Chestermere population was 9481 and the Chestermere Food Bank had 3 volunteers – and that’s how it all began.
The Chestermere Regional Food Bank is holding its Annual General Meeting on Monday, April 18th at 7pm at the Food Bank located at #105, 100 Rainbow Road. They are inviting the public to come out and meet their volunteers and see what volunteer opportunities are available.
