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Food Bank Friday: Eagle Valley Community Support Society Food Bank manages spike in demand

Click to play video: 'Eagle Valley Community Support Society in Sicamous works to support demand'
Eagle Valley Community Support Society in Sicamous works to support demand
WATCH: Sydney Morton has been featuring Food Banks from the Similkameen, the Okanagan Valley and the Shuswap. In our final installment of our Food Bank Friday series this week we hear about the Eagle Valley Community Support Society and how they have managed to support a growing demand – Dec 17, 2021

The Eagle Valley Community Support Society in Sicamous is so much more than a food bank.

“We have all kinds of family support services and counselling services, resource referral, in addition to nutrition education and food security programs [and] senior services,” said Janet McClean Senft, Eagle Valley Community Support Society executive director.

For decades they have supported the community’s mental and physical health and the food bank program ensures that they are not only nurturing clients’ minds but also fuelling their bodies with nutritious food.

“Our food bank has always operated with the model that if we can resolve some of people’s issues, that we will stay at a steady number and for many, many years that that has been true. Our numbers, we will spike certain times of the year because we are a seasonal economy,” said McClean Senft.

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The food bank team has been meeting a growing demand over the pandemic and are preparing for a 10-per cent increase in demand for Christmas hampers this year.

“In a normal year we would serve around 1,200 hampers that would be sort of a monthly hamper; we have some families that we support more than that. Our food bank also supports many other programs in the city. We provide produce to the schools for their cooking program, We [also] provide [produce] to two seniors meals programs.” said said McClean Senft.

“We probably saw about a 30-per cent increase in the amount of hampers that went out last year, so instead of 1,200 I think we did 1,600.”

You can help support local food banks like the Central Okanagan Food Bank by donating to our Global Okanagan Your Okanagan Calendar Campaign.

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You can donate in the following ways:

Online:

Through Food Banks BC.

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By visiting this website, you will be directed to make a donation to the bank in your area.

Food Banks BC will send your tax receipt directly to your email once your donation is complete.

By mail:

Send a cheque made to the Food Bank of your choice to:

Global Okanagan, 342 Leon Ave., Kelowna, B.C., V1Y 6J2

In person:

At the Global Okanagan office at 342 Leon Ave., in Kelowna. We accept cash, cheque, credit or debit.

By phone:

Call our receptionist at 250-762-4535 or 1-888-762-4535 to pay by credit card.

When you donate online, by phone or by mail, we will mail your calendar(s) to you. Expect that they will take 10 to 14 days to arrive.

Please make a donation to the food bank of your choice in the Okanagan. Only donations of $30 and greater per calendar are eligible for a tax receipt.

Tax receipts for donations sent by mail, phone or in person will be receipted by the food bank you donated to. They will not be sent until the end of the campaign, which is Dec. 31, 2021.

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Calendars will be available while quantities last.

This fundraiser is a collaborative effort between Global Okanagan and their partners.

— with files from Doyle Potenteau

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