Grade 6 students at John Black Public School here learned a valuable lesson about community when they volunteered at the Centre Wellington Food Bank last Wednesday.
The students in Laura Alessio’s class took part in the field trip, spending half a day actually working at the Fergus Marketplace location.
“This experience is to create awareness of community need and to build cooperation and leadership, and learn responsibility,” said Alessio.
She added her class was the top food collector during the school’s Easter Food Drive competition, so the opportunity to actually see where the food goes and how it helps was an extension of their efforts.
“This is part of our character education,” Alessio said. “I think they’ve been amazing. They are pretty enthusiastic.”
Taking part in all the daily chores for food bank volunteers included everything from basic housekeeping, like sweeping and cleaning the bathrooms, to taking part in stocking the shelves and sorting food by expiry dates.
Others folded grocery bags, cut labels and removed food that was past expiry, and learned the difference between expiry and best-before dates.
“I think it’s good that everybody is working so hard to help,” said student A.J. Kellough. “It’s hard work, but hard work pays off.”
Classmate Lexey Burns agreed.
“It’s important to see that so many people depend on the food bank,” she said.
On hand to supervise and help the students was food bank manager Fred Aleksandrowicz, who appreciated the help and the opportunity to educate the students, especially given the growing need for his facility.
“This month we’ve seen up to 56 new clients. The bulk of them seem to be families,” he said.
Despite a recent food drive for spring held at the Zehrs Market store, Aleksandrowicz said the donations are down.
“People are concerned about their own livelihood,” he said.
Aleksandrowicz said with the News of jobs losses in Centre Wellington, due to the closure of the A.O. Smith manufacturing plant, he is certain the need for food bank support will grow.
“When you look at the layoffs in June you have severance packages, then employment insurance, and then … I am looking at the trend coming at Christmas time, when people start coming for the Christmas hampers.”
Aleksandrowicz hopes having young students see the reality of the food bank will help change the views of a new generation about the need for such services in the community.
The Centre Wellington Food Bank has two upcoming non-perishable food collection events:
– May 8 to 10 at the Fergus Lions Home Show, where admission is a donation to the food bank; and
– June 1 during recycling day at Grand River Raceway.
