The Cowichan Lake Food Bank is holding a fundraiser that will last through the month of May. Every Saturday, Cindy Vaast, along with other volunteers, will be in the Country Grocer parking lot selling hotdogs and taking donations of canned and other non-perishable goods. Any money that is donated will go directly to the food bank. Food bank volunteers will also be selling raffle tickets for Lake Days. All the proceeds from these sales will also go towards the food bank. During Lake Days, the food bank will have kids collecting donations in buggies at the Lake Days entrance.
In conjunction with Hunger Awareness Week, May 7-11, the Saturday fundraiser will be a special one. On May 5, food bank volunteers will be generating awareness of the many people who go hungry in B.C. every day. They will have special T-shirts on, have stickers for the kids, and will have posters and information packages for the adults.
Fresh produce is hard to come by, and volunteers must, for the most part, fundraise to purchase fruit and vegetables for its customers. Local residents have helped out by offering apples or garden vegetables they have in excess during the summer months and at harvest. Vaast says there is never enough, but she appreciates whatever local residents can spare.
The food bank operates out of the Lake Cowichan United Church basement. Food is packaged on Tuesdays and handed out on Wednesdays.
Vaast says that most of the food they receive comes from donations made at Country Grocer, the Mustard Seed in Victoria—which receives its donations in shipments from Toronto—and from the Food Bank of B.C. She is grateful to the many local residents who donate funds every year.
For more information, contact Vaast by calling 250-749-6239.