Friday December 13, 2024 | LANGFORD, BC
Community insights by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
About 800 holiday season food hampers have been assembled and will be picked up or delivered by all the volunteers at the Goldstream Food Bank in Langford this holiday season.
All week various volunteer teams have handled the many aspects of food hamper assembly in the basement of the Langford Legion where the Goldstream Food Bank operates.
Yesterday it was the BC Investment Management Corporation‘s (BCI) turn to sort incoming non-perishable food donations (for expiry dates and condition) and assemble a range of items into cardboard boxes called hampers.
Earlier this week Langford council members were on hand to help sort food for the hampers, and one day the local coast guard folks will be in today lend a helping hand.
About 20 of the BCI employees showed up on Thursday morning to help out. Volunteer teams get a brief orientation from one of the food bank organizers before being set loose to do the work.
The ones who are most physically fit were pushing buggies of hampers up the ramp to the parking lot where people would pick up hampers in their vehicles or where the Goldstream Food Bank van was ready to receive.
Food-item donations are down:
Food donations from the community are down this year but people in the community continue to be generous financially as well, says Gayle Ireland.
Ireland has been Goldstream Food Bank president for many years, now 38 years and counting. She presently manages about 81 regular volunteers.
“We save all year for this,” says Ireland about the holiday season food hamper program. “And we buy what we need when we need it,” she adds.
She says about 90% of all donated funds are used for food purchases; about 10% is of course needed for operations like the distribution vehicles, electricity, insurance and other operational and administrative costs.
No volunteers are paid. The Goldstream Food Bank also does not pay rent for their operational space in the Langford Legion basement.
No personnel are paid for their work; all operations are achieved by volunteers. A fundraising intake of about $120,000 can cover the cost of the hamper program in the holiday season.
Hours of operation are Monday to Friday 8:30 am to 1 pm, and Saturday mornings.
What’s in the hampers:
About 70% of each hamper is food or other household items that have been purchased by funds donated to the food bank.
The 30% of hamper contents is comprised of donated non-perishable food and personal hygiene items.
The food components of a hamper include meat, vegetables and other produce, and dairy (like cheese and butter or margarine). The non-perishable items include things like canned food, baby food, diapers and toiletries.
Food rescue:
There is a lot of incoming fresh food that is sourced as ‘food rescue’, i.e. items that are nearing their shelf-life expiry date or won’t otherwise be sold as optimal retail product in grocery stores.
That can include baked goods, dairy, cheese and deli meats.
Cindy, one of the long-time volunteer coordinators, says some of the volunteer teams for the holiday season hamper assembly never even knew the Goldstream Food Bank existed or they were surprised at the range of items that are included in hampers.
Warehouse coordinator Peter Hawks does exactly that, coordinate the activity and organization of the stored food. Other experienced volunteers on hand yesterday were Mark and Darryl.
The Goldstream Food Bank has large walk-in refrigerators and freezers for longer-term food storage.
Rooms seem to open up one after another through the basement where there are further stored items of canned food and toys. There is a lunchroom area for volunteers.
The Horgan overtone:
This year there is a special overtone of giving for the Goldstream Food Bank. In honour of the late former Premier John Horgan the Goldstream Food Bank is receiving donations of food items and funds, in lieu of flowers that might otherwise be given to the Horgan family.
The provincial state memorial for John Horgan is being held this weekend, on Sunday December 15 at 1 pm at the Q Centre in Colwood.
Goldstream Food Bank president Gayle Ireland received a BC Medal of Good Citizenship on March 24, 2022 from Premier John Horgan.
Food banks within the food distribution system:
Food banks are clearly well-established locally and across Canada.
Especially being well-integrated with food rescue operations, food distribution and volunteer networks and grocery stores, food banks are an important if not essential service in society.
The Goldstream Food Bank handles the entire operation with dignity and an upbeat mood.
But the clear need to have an established food bank system indicates a serious shortfall in the ability of households to achieve their own food resilience.
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NEWS SECTIONS: LANGFORD | FOOD SECURITY | VANCOUVER ISLAND