Barrie Food Bank Launches Spring Food Drive With Need Greater Than Ever
MORE THAN 7,200 PEOPLE VISITED THE FOOD BANK IN JANUARY
COurtesy of Barrie360.com, Dan BlakeleyPublished: Mar 1st, 2024
The Barrie Food Bank needs your help – a lot of it.
It Launches its spring food drive today (March 1), looking to collect 100,000 pounds of food and $250,000.
The need is greater than it’s ever been. More than 7,200 people visited the food bank in January – twice as many as a year ago.
Among the recipients, 655 individuals were accessing the food bank for the first time.
Emergency Food Services provided to individuals experiencing homelessness or requiring additional support between monthly shops soared to 540 in January, nearly triple the figures from the previous year.
The School Fuel program supports over 5,600 children across 22 local schools in Barrie, ensuring access to healthy snack foods for school-aged children facing food insecurity.
Sharon Palmer, the Executive Director of the Barrie Food Bank, says dwindling supplies and the necessity to ration food quantities provided to visitors, reflect the surge in the number of individuals and families seeking assistance.
“This isn’t a decision we take lightly, but rather a reflection of the growth in the number of individuals and families seeking support. Together, we can ensure no one goes hungry during these challenging times.”
The Spring Campaign aims to keep the shelves stocked throughout the spring and summer months, ensuring continuous support for those facing hunger and hardship in the community. Various ways to contribute to the campaign include making secure online donations, dropping off cheques or cash at the Barrie Food Bank headquarters, donating non-perishable food items at designated bins in local grocery stores, or organizing food drives on behalf of companies or organizations.
For those interested in organizing a food drive, arrangements can be made by contacting donations@barriefoodbank.org for food collection bin drop-off and pickup.
For more information and to contribute to the campaign, visit barriefoodbank.org/donate.
Patricia is the Business Mentor and owner of Grow Vantage and a Past President of the Barrie Chamber of Commerce. She applies over 30 years of business experience (from start-up to corporate) to mentor entrepreneurs. Since 2011, she has held over 6,500 coaching and training sessions in-person and online. Through Ask For Directions Training, her entrepreneurial training program (and parent company Grow Vantage), and as a business coach, she works with start-ups who are new (or who have lost traction) to design, launch and grow their businesses. Along with 20 other expert instructors she teaches strategies in marketing, sales, communications, and finance, as well as practical techniques to increase productivity, and manage their businesses. In other words, everything entrepreneurs need to learn to grow and run their businesses successfully, and avoid the costly mistakes they can't even see coming - that lead to delays in growth and getting stuck.
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