December was the busiest month of the year for the Whitehorse Food Bank, but thanks to a number of fundraisers and donations, executive director Tristan Newsome said there are still turkeys on the shelves.
“People get pretty turkeyed out, but that’s ok,” said Newsome laughing. “There’s lots you can do with turkeys.”
He said most of the meat, including more than 150 turkeys and 300 hams, were purchased with a nearly $10,000 contribution from GoldCorp’s Coffee mine fundraiser.
There was also a $2,000 donation from the Food for Fines initiative through the City of Whitehorse, which splits that money between the Food Bank and Kaushee’s Place.
Donations also came from the Fireweed Lions Club, the CBC, and from the Superstore, the Independent, and Save-On-Foods, which did a food drive for all of December.
“It was exhausting,” he said of the massive effort this year, which was why he was happy to have some volunteer hours donated as well.
Newsome said the local Cadets dropped by to volunteer as well, which was helpful at the beginning of the season, when there was so much food, it needed to be stacked.
Most of the food bank volunteers are older, he said, so they can’t be up on ladders stacking cans. It was great to have younger kids in helping with that. It helped keep things running smoothly during a very busy time.
“There were definitely a lot of people having to access the bank more than once,” he said. “There were special circumstances for a lot of folks going through hard times.”
Newsome said the food bank was closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, but is now open regular hours. It will maintain those hours now, with the exception of New Year’s Day.
The food bank is open for donations and information Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (closed from 12 to 1 p.m.), and Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed from 1 to 2 p.m.). Food pickup is available Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. and 3 pm. to 4:45 p.m.
Contact Amy Kenny at amy.kenny@yukon-news.com