Niverville Helping Hands is encouraging residents to check their pantry or pick up a few extra items during their next grocery run to support the organization’s annual spring food drive.
Director Larissa Sandulak says the initiative is supported by a group of volunteers who help make the process easier.
“We have our excellent youth groups. They're always willing to help. They go around the entire community door to door, picking up donations that are left outside for us, and we also have a group from a local church that's helping us do all the sorting, which is amazing.”
Donating is simple, just place your items in a bag and leave them on your front step for the youth volunteers to collect.
If you’re donating from your pantry, Sandulak kindly asks that you double-check expiration dates.
“We cannot use anything that is expired. We do have places in the city that we can give some expired things to, but it just creates a lot of extra work for our team, so if things could be usable for the next at least month, that would be very helpful for us.”
As for what’s needed, Sandulak shares a few suggestions.
“Some things that we could use are soup in particular, like ramen noodle packs are really popular. Cereal and oatmeal are needed. Canned vegetables and quick meals like Kraft Dinner or Sidekicks, or Alpha-getti and that kind of thing. And otherwise, we can use all non-perishable food items.”
If your donation happens to be missed, there are still ways to help out. You can reach Niverville Helping Hands through social media, give them a call, or drop off items in the donation bin located at Your Grocery People in Niverville.
Sandulak says the support from the community means everything.
“We just want to express a huge thank you to everyone that participates and we're just so appreciative for everyone's support and we honestly could not do it without you.”
Youth groups will be collecting donations on Friday, May 2 from 6 to 9 PM.
With files from Adi Loewen
