May 6 to 10 is Hunger Awareness Week and the Sunshine Coast Food Bank is asking you to "give it up, give it out or give a shout" to mark the occasion.
While some may think hunger doesn't exist in Canada, the truth is, close to 900,000 people will rely on a food bank this month to meet their basic nutritional needs. These 900,000 people don't have the luxury of going to the store to buy something whenever they're hungry. To understand what it's like to go without food, people across the country are being asked to "give it up" and go without breakfast, lunch and dinner for the day on May 8 during Hunger Awareness Week.
It's something Dale Sankey of the Sunshine Coast Food Bank hopes will impact people and cause them to think more about the hunger problem on the Coast.
The Sunshine Coast Food Bank gives out more than 1,000 bags of food each month to men, women and children in need. Sometimes those bags are full. Other times, not so much.
"This is the time of year when there is a bit of a slump in giving, but people are still coming to the food bank," Sankey said.
In an effort to help restock the shelves, Sankey is asking people to "give it out" by dropping off donations during Hunger Awareness Week. The food bank can take donations of canned and dry goods as well as fruit, vegetables, milk, eggs and meat, which are always in demand.
"Our desire is to give out the most nutritious food we can, so if somebody has extra produce that they're not able to consume we have a cooler and we're able to redistribute that food to the people who come, and they really do appreciate that," Sankey said.
Because of some new rules for food banks across Canada, Sankey is also looking for small containers of peanut butter to distribute to the hungry. Before large jars could be repackaged into smaller portions, but the new law says jars can't be opened and repacked.
A small jar of peanut butter costs nearly $4.
"And we need about 200 jars of peanut butter in order to give them out to everyone who comes in, so that's a significant cost to us," Sankey said.
She is also looking for gardeners who will "grow a row" for the food bank this year. The extra vegetables can be dropped off as soon as they're ready to be harvested and the locally grown produce is much appreciated.
You can drop off donations for the food bank to Sunshine Coast Community Services Society at 5638 Inlet Ave. in Sechelt from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday.
And Sankey is asking the public to "give a shout" by talking about Hunger Awareness Week through social media in order to bring more attention to the issue of hunger in our community.
"We wanted a way for anyone and everyone to feel connected to our cause and to realize that their simple actions can really change lives for those in need," Sankey noted.
For more information about Hunger Awareness Week go to www.hungerawarenessweek.ca.
