The Salvation Army's food bank in French Creek, B.C., is giving clients better, healthier options thanks to a new commercial cooler and a partnership with Thrifty Foods. Instead of composting fresh produce and perishable items such as bread, the grocery store now sends these items to the Army.
A partnership with Thrifty Foods yields plentiful results
Trina Jiggins, food bank co-ordinator, originally got the idea for the food reclamation program after hearing about a similar program elsewhere on Vancouver Island. However, when the food bank investigated obtaining a commercial cooler, they were given a quote of $25,000.
“The unique part of our program is that we built our own 20-by-12-foot cooler using a high-powered air conditioning unit and a coolbot device to regulate the temperature,” says Jiggins. “The one that we constructed, following the Health Board specifications, cost us under $5,000 and it is energy efficient.”
In the first eight months of the cooler's operation, The Salvation Army was able to repurpose nearly $175,000 of usable produce and dairy.
With a national fundraising goal of $22 million, contributions to the kettle campaign allow The Salvation Army to provide practical assistance for all who need it, not only at Christmas but throughout the year.
November 22 is National Housing Day. As a community, we can use this opportunity to reflect on housing as a human right, what that means to us and how we can help make it a reality for all.
A partnership with Thrifty Foods yields plentiful results
A partnership with Thrifty Foods yields plentiful results
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