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Feed the Valley has been putting money where the hungry mouth is.
The $1 million mark has been passed, a goal Valley First — which spearheads the program — didn’t expect to reach until 2020.
Valley First president Paulette Rennie made the announcement at the Central Okanagan Food Bank in Kelowna on Tuesday. She explained that six years ago, she decided Valley First would raise $100,000 over 10 years for local food banks in the Thompson-Okanagan. That goal was blown out of the water.
“I’m really not surprised,” said Rennie. “We are so fortunate to have the employee base that we have here in the Okanagan, and when we asked them to own this and take charge, get involved in the community, they really came to the table for us.”
Created in 2010, the program aimed to raise food, funds and awareness for food banks throughout British Columbia’s Okanagan, Similkameen and Thompson regions. Not only did the program meet the target ahead of time, but 70,000 pounds of food were also donated to local Food Banks.
Lenetta Parry, with the Central Okanagan Food Bank, said the Kelowna and West Kelowna food banks have greatly benefited from the partnership with Valley First.
“They didn’t just come in and say, ‘let us raise funds and food for you’ — they are an actual partner,” she said. “They are literally a phone call away, if we are short on something we can call on them and they put it out it out to their members.
“Whether it’s baby food or pasta, or if we need help at Christmas they are a phone call away, down here volunteering, rolling up their sleeves and getting involved with us. They are a true community partner that is here to help this food bank succeed.”
Rennie agrees the platform of Feed the Valley was much more than just writing a cheque.
“It was about creating awareness and making people understand that they really were helping to make a difference,” she said. “To be able to deliver 70,000 pounds to the various food bank doors is a pretty incredible feeling.”
The Central Okanagan Food Bank serves about 4,000 people per month, or 100 households a day. Thirty-three per cent of those helped are children under the age of 15 and $3.5 million is distributed out of the two warehouse locations per year.
Laura Lansink, executive director of Food Banks BC, notes that with numbers increasing each year, Feed the Valley has helped to make an impact.
“With more than 100,000 individuals needing assistance from B.C.’s food banks every month, the impact of Feed the Valley has been tremendously encouraging. For every $1 that has been raised, our food banks have been able to provide the equivalent of three meals to every person, family and child that has turned to them for help.”
While the million-dollar mark has been met, the Feed the Valley program is not over. A new challenge has been issued to raise $230,000 in 2016 through Feed the Valley for local Food Banks.
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