Kamloops Food Bank
"Our Story
The Kamloops Food Bank was founded in 1981 by Mr. Hank Woodland. It started at the Kamloops United Church as a way to assist people through the devastating effects of the high inflation rates of the early 1980’s. In 2013, the Kamloops Food Bank completed a building renovation and expansion. A&Ts Project Development was key to the completion of this project.
The Kamloops Food Bank operates independently and is a member in good standing of the Food Banks British Columbia and an affiliates member of Food Banks Canada.
Program Offered:
Food SHARE
foodSHARE is the largest food recovery program operated by a food bank in Western Canada. Over 18 million pounds diverted from the landfill since the program started in 2007 and delivered to 7,000 clients, 52 community agencies that make meals and local farmers who use expired product for animal feed. This initiative is zero waste. Healthy product including meat, dairy, produce and bakery items are available to our clients weekly.
Starfish Backpack
The Starfish Backpack program provides food to children that have been identified at a school level as not having enough food to carry them through the weekend. The backpacks are packed with easy-to-prepare and nutritious items by volunteers at the food bank and delivered to the schools. The school staff distributes the backpacks to the children every Friday. For the 2020-2021 school year we are distributing 130 backpacks across 13 schools in our community.
Baby Bank
Infants and Toddlers receive a monthly supply of diapers, formula, baby food and hygiene products. The availability of these items through our baby bank removes a large financial stressor from families and ensure that infants in our community have the nutritious food they require for healthy physical development.
The funds required to ensure consistent availability of product are largely gathered at our Basics for Babies fundraiser held in November of each year.
Source:
Kamloops Food Bank
On the north wall across the top are plaques with names of contributors and the Rotary logo recognizing them also as a contributor.