Year End Report 2016
2016 was a year of many changes for the Stittsville Food Bank. Our client base grew and service was increased. We grew and learned from one another on how to make the food bank more efficient for volunteers and our clients. Groceries are dated by month and year in order to reduce waste. This is a lot of work and keeps volunteers busy. Stocking, sorting and date checks is one of the ongoing jobs. Cleaning, organizing, picking up food and speaking at the schools are some of the jobs the volunteers help with.
Stittsville food bank has well over seventy five volunteers in a year. There are teams serving clients on a weekly basis, also volunteers picking up food at all the bins around Stittsville. We have a Youth Volunteer day every second Sunday as well as an Adult Volunteer Day once a week. The volunteers are the back bone of the Stittsville Food Bank and they consist of people from the ages of 12 to 85 years old. Our volunteers are committed, intelligent, and strong individuals. I am so proud to be the Chair of the Stittsville Food Bank. The Stittsville Food Bank is run solely by volunteers and they are instrumental to the existence of the food bank.
May 2016 we held our annual Volunteer and Donor Appreciation Evening. The evening was a great success in recognizing volunteers, individual donors, businesses, schools, churches, service clubs and our fire services for all their help. We recognized the youth as well as the adults.
We have had many visitors to the food bank in 2016 such as the grade 6 class at Holy Spirit who walks down to the food bank every year with food. Stittsville Public School built full Christmas hampers. The Scouts, Cubs, Beavers Guides and Brownies have been a life saver with their food drives. For every person that sent in a donation or brought food for a grocery bin around town, your church, your school, your place of business, Thank You! To the individuals who helped provide hampers, and the volunteers who delivered, Thank You! Thank you for wanting to learn about the Stittsville Food Bank and for helping.
Our holiday hampers for Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas were filled with many extras this year thanks to the tremendous support of our community.
The Stittsville Food bank believes clients should be treated with respect and dignity, giving them hope for a better future. Healthy food is essential in all our lives therefore providing milk, eggs, cheese, meat, fresh vegetables and fruit to our clients is extremely important to us. Healthy food = Healthy minds.
Everyone needs help at some point in their lives, so it never hurts to ask if you need assistance. We are here to give people a helping hand up and hope someday they are able to help someone else. The Stittsville Food bank does not receive any type of funding assistance, but instead relies 100% on donations from the public. 2016 donations of food and cash ensured the continuation of support to all families in need.
Thank you and may your lives be healthy and happy!
Theresa Qadri
Chair Stittsville Food Bank
Comments are closed.