We all know times have been tough. The cost of living has gone up, it’s been hard to make ends meet and food banks are not immune to tough times.
Volunteers at the Penticton Salvation Army Food Bank have been seeing a non-stop rise in demand.
“The Penticton Salvation Army is experiencing a massive need in our community of up to 40 per cent more food needs and social services. As well, as we have 12 agencies we support in our community and we are now having to say, ‘I am so sorry we cannot help you at this time because our shelves are emptying,'” said Major Lisa Trickett with the Penticton Salvation Army.
While Trickett and her team work to meet that rising demand, she says that the donations to match it are not coming through their doors.
Normally, they would give out a dozen hampers a day, but now they usually give out 20. They have also seen an increased demand in their lunch program, serving 50 more lunches on top of the 100 they were already making.
To drum up donations, they have come up with a creative idea.
“This is our first ever Family Fun Food Drive,” said Forest Kernenbach, Penticton Salvation Army Food Bank operations supervisor.
“Yes we are collecting food, but we are also focusing on the family aspect. There will be bouncy castles provided by Amuzing Fun Rentals, there will be face painting by Susie Smiles, and a few of our grocery stores — Safeway and Save-On-Foods — were more than happy to provide food for the barbecue so we are super super excited about that.”
The Family Fun Food drive will be at the Penticton Salvation Army Church Office’s parking lot this Saturday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. where they will be accepting both monetary and non-perishable food donations to help support those in need in our community.