The community here rose to the occasion as the food drive sponsored by Loblaws and Mark’s Valu-mart was a success with over $1,000 in cash and 1,000 pounds of food collected between March 20 to April 2 for East Wellington Community Services (EWCS) food bank.
“It was a great team effort,” said Valu-mart’s Marc Boisvenue. “It was our own staff here in the store, along with the volunteers from the high school who really got behind this event and made it happen.”
With the statistics just released, the event could not have come at a better time.
EWCS Food Bank coordinator, Kelly Stockdale, is seeing an alarming increase in the number of families now using the two local food banks in Erin and Rockwood.
“Food bank usage for the first quarter of 2009 is up over 160% over the same time last year,” Kelly said. “There are many new families coming to the food bank for the first time, people who are embarrassed to be there, but have no options. Many are experiencing job losses or cut-backs along with increases in living expenses, all of which contribute to financial problems … We are very grateful for the generous people in the community who contributed to the national food drive.”
