When the ‘Better Together’ food drive concluded on Halloween night, 44,216 pounds of food were donated to the Moose Jaw & District Food Bank on two truckloads the following morning. Now that the warehouse is full, the food bank is getting to work on sorting, processing, and preparing to deliver that food to those in need.
“We raised 44,216 pounds. I’ve had a few people ask if it’s more than lass year or less, and actually it was 872 pounds more,” confirmed Deann Little, development and warehouse manager at the Moose Jaw Food Bank.
In 2022, the Moose Jaw & District Food Bank received 38 pallets of food, and in 2023, that number grew to 43 pallets.
“When you factor in the cost of food right now, it was actually a greater amount this year than we received over last year in the dollar value,” Little pointed out.
“I was almost getting worried where I was going to squish all that food between the two warehouses here, but we did it. We had to move some things around and switch things, but we got it to fit,” she said.
“We can’t close the one door, but that’s a good problem to have for us.”
The current situation means that more people in the community can be helped over the coming winter months, which is good news for the approximately 700 households supported each month by the organization.
“It was super exciting. It’s absolutely amazing to have that huge of a turnout of volunteers coming to help for our organization in particular… they gave up their time and their evening to come and help us in order for us to be able to help those in need,” said Little.
Little said that the influx of donations will mean a few months of sorting and processing will be required.
“It’s going to take us a few good months to go through all those pallets now. You figure we have to check the dates on every single item that just got donated, and we have 43 pallets,” she said. The food will store for approximately six months, and some items will last beyond that.
Several local volunteers have already come down to assist with the processing of donations. Little said the food bank is extremely appreciative of this help, and any business or individual looking to assist with the Herculean task is welcome to offer their support for the community.
“Today we had our wonderful Henderson Insurance Company here in town (volunteer to help). I had a team from their business come and volunteer, and they managed to go through and sort four pallets of food today – which is huge… for one day,” she said.
Anyone wishing to volunteer can contact Little by calling the Moose Jaw Food Bank.
“Usually my volunteers come between 9 (a.m.) and noon. I have a little flexibility on that, but they can contact me here as well. I would love to be able to bring them in, and they can sort through some of the donations we got from the drive,” Little noted.
Little said the food bank now has approximately triple the number of regular volunteers compared to its former location, but a task of this size will still take a while. “They are kept very busy at this time of year now. It will make a huge impact – it’s huge.”
Little wanted to convey her gratitude on behalf of the Moose Jaw & District Food Bank as well as the community it supports.
“Our community – we probably sound like a broken record when we say it – we can’t thank our community enough. They continue to give and give all the time. It is so true.
“There are so many communities across Canada with food banks in them and those food banks are struggling desperately to get enough food to give out to their clients in need. We don’t have that problem here. Our community supports us, they always have. We have now been operating for 39 years… which is almost a sad situation as well, the fact that we need to be open.
“But we do need to be open, and that’s the times right now that we’re in,” she expressed.
“We just want to thank the community again for not just volunteering… but for every single can. Sometimes people feel bad when they give just one or two cans – absolutely do not feel bad, because those one or two cans are more than we just had two minutes ago.
“Every donation, large or small, all makes a difference for the greater good of us being able to help others,” Little said appreciatively.
The Moose Jaw & District Food Bank is located at 270 Fairford Street West and can be reached at 306-692-2911.
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