Throughout 2019 the Chestermere Food Bank has seen the generosity and ongoing support from the community.
“We are such a tight-knit community, Chestermere always steps up,” said the President of the Chestermere Food Bank Laurie Dunn.
In 2019, working with local partners was a top priority for the food bank.
“The biggest highlight was the smile cookie campaign and partnering with Tim Horton’s. That was a big highlight, and something I was really pleased to see,” Dunn said.
“Our other partnerships with Safeway, No Frills, the schools’, and everybody in this community is generous,” she said.
Adding, “We’ve had fantastic food drives with the haunted house, the schools, and the Spring Food Drive. The community is amazing.”
Dunn is anticipating the Tim Horton’s Western Canada Pond Hockey Championships to be a large boost for the Chestermere Food Bank, as everyone who attends was asked to bring a food bank donation.
“Once Christmas is finished, people don’t always think of the food bank. We’ll have a spring food drive because by then, the shelves will be bare,” Dunn said.
The Chestermere Food Bank has seen the same amount of need in terms of people accessing the facility.
The Chestermere Food Bank expanded on school programs they offer, such as the Snack Attack program and the After the Bell program.
“We’ve supplied more food and funding to the schools to help the children who don’t come with proper food in their belly or a lunch,” Dunn said.
“The programs that we’re really most involved with other than the hamper distributions are supporting the schools and the kids at the schools,” she said.
Pratt’s Food Service made over 50 Christmas Hampers full of everything residents need for the holidays.
On Dec. 18, Pratt’s Food Service brought the Christmas Hampers, while the Chestermere Food Bank distributed them to residents.
“It’s absolutely unbelievable what Pratt’s puts into the hampers. This is the second year they’ve done this, in the past they used to donate turkeys,” Dunn added. “The last two years, they have provided the entire days’ worth of food.”
Following the Christmas Hamper distribution, Brewhouse donated pizzas to the volunteers.
Along with building partnerships, and enhancing programs, the Chestermere Food Bank’s former present Vicki Osanyintola is now working on education and awareness.
“She’s been doing a fantastic job meeting with schools, and different groups, either at the school or they come into the food bank for tours. They’re sorting and learning about the need, and expiry dates and everything that kids might not be aware of as it relates to people who can’t afford food and necessities,” Dunn said.
“That’s been a really big win this year for the number of kids that we’re reaching because they, in turn, they are talking about it and raising awareness,” she said.
Despite the new partnerships that have formed throughout the year, the Chestermere Food Bank’s most significant challenge is funding.
“A lot of our funding that comes from monetary donations from community members go back into shopping,” Dunn said.
“We need funding to keep the lights on and to heat the building, it’s always a challenge making sure there is enough funding available,” she said.
Moving forward, the Chestermere Food Bank is working towards starting a volunteer development program.
“Volunteers are the lifeblood of the food bank, and we need to be able to engage volunteers and keep volunteers,” Dunn said.
“Depending on volunteers to make the volunteer experience a good one doesn’t always work,” she said.
Adding, “People want to volunteer, they really do. We have an engaged community that wants to give back.”
The volunteer development program will be used to recruit and train volunteers while having the software to manage programs, track hours, and provide employees of the Chestermere Food Bank the data they need to apply for applications.
“The challenge is having the proper funding to ensure our programs can run appropriately and the ones that need to be staffed with employees can be staffed, and the programs that can be run by volunteers can be,” Dunn said.
In 2020, a significant goal for the Chestermere Food Bank is to retire the vehicle currently being used and purchase a vehicle more suited to their needs and the safety of volunteers.
“We just hope to continue with our amazing local partnerships, and perhaps forge some new ones,” Dunn said.
“Thank you to the community for their amazing willingness to donate, whether that’s time, money, volunteering, or donating food,” she said.
