Lyonel Doherty, Times Chronicle
Local sportsmen have donated $800 to the Oliver Food Bank to help the less fortunate.
Trap director Ed Pedersen from the Southern Okanagan Sportsmen’s Association presented the cheque last week. He noted the money came from proceeds of their 75th annual Turkey Shoot.
“We were really happy that the community came back and supported us so well this year that we decided that any proceeds or profit we made we wanted to donate [to the food bank].”
Food bank treasurer Julie Van Dusen said donations like this allow them to meet the continued needs of a growing list of clients.
“The number of clients continues to go up every week. Not only more clients, but food is more expensive, so we are hit twice.”
Van Dusen said the food bank only manages to continue due to generous donations from Oliver citizens and associations.
She said they are seeing more clients because of the cost of living.
“People in the past could make ends meet but are not able to make ends meet [now]. So, they have to find some way of filling that gap.”
Van Dusen said people who have never used the food bank before are starting to show up, adding they have more than 400 registered clients.
Last week they prepared hampers for 72 single people, 30 couples and 20 families.
“One of the biggest challenges is keeping up with the amount of food we need.”
And all the work is done by volunteers, she pointed out.
Van Dusen said the food bank is able to offer meat each week, which it couldn’t provide in the past. She gave kudos to Kevin’s NoFrills for donating meat.
She admitted it’s heartbreaking to hear some of the stories from their clients. She remembers registering a single woman in December.
“She started crying and said, ‘I am so hungry,’ like she hadn’t had food for a while . . . I just about cried talking to her.”
Van Dusen said there are people who are literally doing without meals and then deciding they need to come to the food bank.
Volunteer Merrill Bjerkan said they registered a woman whose husband died shortly after they moved to Oliver.
“She can’t make ends meet and she has a mortgage.”
Van Dusen said they are seeing more single woman and seniors than in the past. These are seniors who have worked all their lives and are now doing without, some having to choose between food or medication, or the heat bill.
Pedersen said the system is very wrong when it comes to this. “Thank God for food banks,” he noted.
