(file photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Keaton Brown

Support Our Community

Second annual Food Drive coming to Battleford next week

Sep 21, 2019 | 8:00 AM

Farm Credit Canada has partnered with Battlefords Trade and Education Centre (BTEC) and Battlefords District Food and Resource Centre for the second annual Food Drive.

September is always a very busy time of year for the food bank. Back to school is a hard time for families struggling with poverty.

Executive Director for Battlefords District Food and Resource Centre Erin Katerynych said for some families, all the added expenses this time of year create difficult choices.

“We are quite busy in September because of back to school. People have to buy school clothes, supplies, registration and all of that. A lot of people struggle this time of year because they have to put out that extra money for school so we see that increase and we are trying to help those people out,” she said.

Every day four million Canadians face tough decisions on how to make ends meet. Every month over 2,000 people are assisted by the food bank in the Battlefords.

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For the last week the BTEC had volunteers going around the town and distributing brown bags for residents to use for food donations.

They are asking residents to fill the bag with non-perishable food items and place the bag on their doorstep which will then be collected by BTEC volunteers over two separate days.

Pickup will be at 9 a.m. on Sept. 24 for homes in Area A, which is any home north of 22^nd Street. Pickup for homes in Area B, which is homes south of 22^nd Street, will be at 9 a.m. on Sept. 25.

Map of areas for pickup. (supplied photo/Battlefords District Food and Resource Centre)

Last year’s drive collected over 900 pounds of non-perishable food. Organizers hope to top that number with this year’s event.

Katerynych touched on how much demand there is for food bank services in the Battlefords.

“People do not really understand how much food we give out here on a regular basis. In August alone we gave out 18,776 pounds of food in our food hampers alone,” she said.

Katerynych said the food bank is always open to monetary donations, volunteers and any non-perishable food items people are willing to part with.

Donations can be made year round at 1171 – 101^st Street, North Battleford.

-With files from Tyler Marr

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Keaton.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow