We’ve come to the year 2009 in our look back at the Chestermere Regional Food Bank. With a few years under their belt now, the food bank had become a valuable asset in our community.
The Chestermere Regional Food Bank received a generous donation of $1,500.00 from the SE Rockyview Food Bank to allow them to continue to provide gift cards for fresh produce for those needing to use the food bank.
A big accomplishment was getting their Casino application approved which was cause for great celebration as it would provide money for gift cards. However, having to wait 3 years gave the group a bit of anxiety as they were not sure what they would do in the meantime.
They applied for the Community Spirit grant as they continued to find themselves in need of more food, more cash and more pick up volunteers – all critical things to keep a food bank operating.
The Chestermere Regional Food Bank suffered a great loss in 2009. Their first Treasurer, Tom O’Connor, passed away leaving a void in the organization. Thankfully, Jennifer Berry stepped up and filled the role of Treasurer.
Curves, who were operating in Chestermere in 2009, had their first food drive which was a huge success and provided a great work out as volunteer’s hauled food up and down those stairs at the Chestermere Recreation Centre. Curves would later provide Christmas stockings full of toiletries and personal hygiene items – always much needed supplies for the Food Bank!
Food Banks Canada reported that the need for food banks spiked drastically in 2009 with 794,738 Canadians walked into a food bank looking for help during the month of March 2009 – an increase of 18% over March 2008 with 37% of those assisted being children. Worst hit were Alberta (+61%), Nova Scotia (+20%), Ontario (+19%), Manitoba (+18%), British Columbia (+15%), and New Brunswick (+14%).
As in past years, children made up a significant percentage (37.2%) of those assisted by food banks. Children were particularly highly represented in Manitoba (49%), Saskatchewan (44%), and Alberta (43%). Overall, 293,677 children in Canada were assisted by a food bank in March of 2009.
As Chestermere’s population was now at 13,760 the Chestermere Regional Food Bank delivered 51 hampers and 21 Christmas hampers this year.
Mardi Oel who has been with the Chestermere Regional Food Bank from the beginning, shared some touching stories that came to mind as they prepare for their 10 year celebration. Oel says, “A lady came into the food bank once with her little girl and the little girl asked her mom why they were shopping here. Mom’s answer (I love that) “It’s just like our bank except instead of money, we put food in and when we need it, we take it back out”.”
Oel shared another story saying, “The Food Bank was broken into quite some time ago as evidenced by footprints on the wall when we were still in the rec centre. There was about a three foot opening at the top so if you were so inclined, you could climb up, hop over and get in. What did they take? All the cookies – that’s all – just cookies. The Rec Centre then extended the wall to the ceiling and that was the end of the Cookie Monster”.
