"I think the message is we all have to look at ourselves, and see how fortunate we are, but that there are a lot of families that aren't that fortunate, and I think it just comes down to sharing what we have," said Rhineland and Area Foodbank committee member Angelika Stoesz. She made that comment ahead of the return of Food for All, presented by Rede-Made Noodles, to Sun Valley Co-op in Altona Thursday, May 1st.
CFAM Radio 950, Country88 and the Eagle 93.5 will be on location from 9am to 6pm collecting monetary donations and non-perishable food items for the group which serves the Town of Altona and surrounding municipality.
The is the second in a series of three Food for All Events across the region.
"As always, the need is there"
Similarly to other foodbanks across the region, the Rhineland and Area Foodbank has continued to see consistent growth in need.
"We're kind of at a level right now where we're averaging 60 hampers going out a week, and of course those vary from single person households right up to 7 to 9 plus people in the household," said Stoesz who noted the age demographic of their clients varies widely. "We have seniors, we have young folks, we have large families, small families. It's just across the board."
There from the beginning
Stoesz, more so than many, has seen firsthand how the need for the Foodbank's services has grown exponentially in recent years. She was part of the planning committee of the organization, and was there for the first shift in May 1997 when two clients showed up. Now it's averaging 60 plus per week.
"I think we all know when we go to the grocery store, the prices just keep increasing, and especially for the necessities, the milk, the meat, the bread, it just goes up and up and up," explained Stoesz. "Because we have so many people coming through, visiting happens as we're taking their orders. You know, they are all the same. They all have kids to feed. The seniors are trying to feed themselves. It's a struggle all around."
Unique format offered to clients
The Rhineland and Area Food Bank is known for its somewhat unique approach to hamper creation, providing choices and options to the clients.
"We have a menu format, and on that menu, if you want a soup you can have tomato, you can have chicken noodle, you can have mushroom, you can have vegetable," she said. "I feel quite strongly that I don't want to give somebody who hates tomato soup tomato soup. There's no point in that. So, we go through this whole menu, and it goes from canned vegetables to meat right to peanut butter, cereals and oatmeal."
And what non-perishable food items are needed?
- canned vegetables
- canned meat
- canned soups
- canned fruit
- beans in tomato sauce (important it does not have pork, because families are not able to eat that)
- pasta
- Kraft dinner
- Mr. Noodle
- pasta sauce
- oatmeal
- cereal
- peanut butter
- juice
As for monetary donations, those will also be gratefully accepted with Stoesz stressing those dollars will be used every single week.
"Right now, I would say, 90% of what we hand out, we are buying," she offered. "That being said, when you give your monetary donations to us, when we spend it, it goes further because we get excellent discounts from our grocery stores. Plus, we buy milk and bread every single week."
What does your support mean?
"It means we have money in the bank to keep buying groceries," said Stoesz. "We are so fortunate in our area that our support is just phenomenal. The word goes out, and the cheques come in. It's quite amazing."