For the last two months, children from the Take Action Society in Dartmouth have been working hard to collect food donations to give to their local food bank.
On Thursday morning, the group carefully packed up the items they gathered and headed from the Northbrook Community Centre to the North Dartmouth Outreach Resource Centre.
“It’s important to us because we see a lot of the kids around here struggling and they go without a lot ,” said Stephanie Gallie, one of the society’s volunteers.
“At Christmas time, people in this neighbourhood, they don’t get a lot of food at Christmas, so it’s important that we can give them food,” added Kayla Livingstone, one of the children with the society.
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The donations were a welcome surprise for the food bank and outreach centre.
“I was spellbound when I saw all the kids come in … with their arms out like this to give me a hug and then I saw the food started to come in. They were so excited,” said Frances Hunter, the food bank’s manager.
“It was really kind of breathtaking to see all these little kids doing what they’re doing.”
Like other food banks in the province, the outreach centre has seen a significant increase in new clients who need their help, especially at this time of year.
“Some weeks there’s been maybe 12 and 15 new ones who haven’t been in our system and for whatever reason, they need to come to the food bank,” Hunter said. “That’s what we’re here for.”
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This is the first time that the children from the Take Action Society have worked on a food drive.
Last year, the kids helped spread some holiday cheer by passing out handmade scarves, hats, mittens and Christmas cards to people in the community.
The group did the same thing this year, even donating some of the knitted sets to the food bank, so they could hand them out to the less fortunate.
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“It’s very important to get the kids involved because we all know that you have to start from the youth. Us adults have messed things up so bad, now we need to teach them how to do it right,” said Roseanna Cleveland with the Take Action Society.
The children involved with the society say they want to help make a positive difference in their community and they have a simple message for those who benefit from their donations this holiday season.
“Have a good Christmas,” said Jaden Thomas Marr.
“And happy New Year’s,” added Johanna Chaisson.
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