The Kamloops Food Bank has been on the receiving end of donations from Sun Peaks Resort’s popular High Five Day for years and recently reciprocated by donating thousands of pounds of food to SPCH
The Kamloops Food Bank recently donated various non-perishable food items to Sun Peaks Community Helps (SPCH) food bank after reading coverage about SPCH in SPIN.
“I think it was over 2,000 pounds of food,” explained Sydney Johnson, an SPCH volunteer.
“There were cases of tuna, vegetarian chili, baked beans, pasta, cereal, boxes of tinned tomato products.”
Bernadette Seracky, executive director of the Kamloops Food Bank, connected with Johnson after finding out about SPCH in SPIN, and said she was honoured to be able to support Sun Peaks after over 10 years of powerful support from the community in the form of Sun Peaks Resort LLP events and other donations.
“We’ve received such strong support over the last decade by the Sun Peaks community through High Five Day and other events, they’ve always been great to us,” stated Seracky. “We were delighted and honoured to be able to have an opportunity to give back.”
In addition to the food donation, Highland Valley Copper supplied SPCH with toiletry supply bags which include toothbrushes, toothpaste, bottled water, a mask and some cleaning products like hand soap and shaving cream, Johnson explained.
The combination of donations is timely, as in recent weeks the demand at SPCH has increased.
“It’s a huge spirit of generosity, it blew us away. Here we are busy supporting the community, and for other communities around us supporting ours, it’s incredible,” said Johnson. “We’re just trying to [keep up with] the demand as it comes at us, and certainly in the last three weeks it’s really popped.”
In fact, a recent SPCH client who has been a member of the Sun Peaks community working full time for the last 11 years, lost their job due to the pandemic, and recently turned to SPCH for help, explained Johnson.
“I just had [that] client in here and they never thought that he would need the help of a food bank, but they said they are so grateful and that it’s just been a game changer for them to have access to this food.”
Johnson added that she thinks people are starting to recognize the fact that community support is necessary during the pandemic, and SPCH is there to help anyone in need.
Seracky added that the global pandemic has led to the realization that some people may need to lean on community and social support at no fault of their own, and organizations like this are there for those in need.
“Many people are finding themselves in a situation they’ve never found themselves in [before]. It may be a short term requirement for those who are needing it and that’s what we are here for. As a community we want to support each other,” Seracky said.
To support SPCH, Johnson suggested looking through cupboards at home and if there’s something you don’t need, SPCH will take it and put it on their shelves for those who may be able to use it.
“We find when people donate stuff from their homes, we get such a variety of products that it fills the gap between all the bulk foods we’re buying,” she said.
To find out more about SPCH, visit their website at spcommunityhelps.ca, and to gain access to the food bank email [email protected] to make an appointment.
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