President of the board of directors for the Annapolis Royal food bank Bill Goucher accepted a cheque from Royal Bank branch manager Beth Fairn for $1,000 last week. The money will go towards feeding about 50 families this holiday season and throughout the year.
Carolyn Sloan
Holidays happy for AR food bank
Donations coming in to help keep families fed
By Carolyn Sloan
Spectator
NovaNewsNow.com
Now at their busiest time of year, the Annapolis Royal food bank is well equipped to serve its clients this holiday season, thanks to generous donations from the community.
Some of the most consistent donations have been coming from local churches in the area, many of which collect groceries and money to send to the food bank at Christmastime every year. Treasurer Fran Rafuse says that parishioners have been continuously dropping off bags of food as the holidays draw near.
She adds that they also received about 100 donations at the local Save Easy during the daylong event where customers are asked to put a purchase in a separate brown bag to give to the food bank.
One of the larger donations they received this year as a contribution of $1,000 from the Royal Bank, with smaller donations now coming in from most of the organizations in the area.
As for the numbers of people using the food bank, Rafuse says that it stays more or less the same from year to year, as there are always more people in need to replace those who no longer use the service. This winter, the food bank will be serving about 50 families within the area as well as providing food for the elementary school breakfast program on a regular basis.
In light of the holidays, the food bank will be giving away gift certificates to help clients purchase a turkey or smaller poultry depending on the size of the family. As always, the service also provides vegetables, such as carrots, potatoes and onions for the Christmas meal.
As the service was originally set up to help clients with groceries between pay cheques, the food bank is open once a month in the evenings at the new location in Town Hall. Rafuse says that the move has been a blessing for the food bank, as their new space makes it even easier to service clients.
“It’s clean, it’s nice, there’s parking [and] it’s accessible,� she explains, adding that unlike their previous location, the space has a washroom nearby and a sink where volunteers can wash their hands.
“It’s just very good,� she continues. “I really think that’s been the best move we’ve ever made.�
