Cooler Times for Northumberland Fare Share Food Banks

Cobourg – It’s not every day that the treasurer of the Northumberland Fare Share Food Banks checks the bank balance of the organization only to find a significant contribution unaccounted for. Thanks to a generous donation from Cameco and the swift work by new board member Randy Levasseur of Cameco, Fare Share will be adding some rather unique additions that will help with the bank and its operations.

Part of the Cameco donation will immediately go to the purchase of food that the bank is short. This will help Fare Share meet its monthly targets for about 2 months. The larger portion of the grant will be spent on expansion to accommodate a walk in fridge. Fare Share has dreamed for some time to have the capacity to store fresh food – especially during harvest season allowing the bank to put fresh foods into the diets of its recipients. The balance of the funds will go to attend to other maintainance challenges.

And when you start one good thing others follow. Fare Share was working to negotiate the purchase of a well-maintained refrigeration unit and with a quick phone call by Fare Share Executive Director, George Leger to Rob O’Neill of the Food 4 All warehouse located in Cobourg we learned of another surprise. O’Neill was able to secure the refrigeration unit for the food bank at no cost. Today, the Cobourg Town engineer along with Sandra Aurthur, Manager of industrial park performed a site visit to determine the installation needs for the refrigeration unit. Once the information is shared Fare Share will be able to determine the schedule for this addition.

All in all it was a great day for Northumberland Fare Share Food Banks and we especially would like to thank Cameco for its very generous donation, the Food 4 All warehouse and Rob O’Neill for their kind assistance, The County of Northumberland for the donation of the fridge, our new board members who have really picked up the pace in organizing these projects and both the Town of Cobourg and Sandra Authur for always being their for us.

The Northumberland Fare Share Food Banks (FSFB) has come a long way in a couple of years. In late 2009 it was found that the Banks needed some new energy to deal with the escalating demand for support. At that time FSFB was serving about 1,900 people per month and since that time has seen an increase in demand to 2,600 people per month. Thankfully the numbers the bank currently serves is holding steady.

Fare Share Food Banks wishes to remind people that they too can give online, and frequently check out www.fareshare.ca to determine the needs of the bank week to week. FSFB can also be followed on Twitter or “Like” us on FaceBook to stay in the loop.