Lyonel Doherty
Times-Chronicle
A global pandemic is not stopping a young entrepreneur in Oliver from stepping up to help feed the less fortunate.
Gus Nehring, owner of Okanagan Containers, donated $1,000 to the Oliver Food Bank on Wednesday.
“This is the second year that we’ve donated to the food bank, and we’re just really excited to give back to the community,” he said.
Nehring said the food bank has many hardworking volunteers, so he is happy to be able to contribute for the second year.
Okanagan Containers started business in Oliver six years ago. He noted the business has seen a lot of change and is doing well with more than six employees on the payroll.
Food Bank president Jon Kurnik said Nehring’s donation will definitely help fill the shelves this season.
He noted they are planning a building expansion this spring in order to give volunteers more space to work.
The expansion will be on the southeast corner of the building with a single room for additional storage. The other plan is to turn the existing room into a meeting room.
“We can’t even meet right now with seven people because of the distancing problem (due to the pandemic).”
Kurnik talked about the issue of need during COVID-19.
“Ironically we’ve had actually less clients since probably June than we’ve had in other years. But we expect a spike to happen as soon as people realize they are unemployed for the long term.”
He noted the generosity of the people in Oliver this year has exceeded any year he has worked at the food bank.
“People are just being more giving and generous.”
