While the community is extremely generous when giving to the Summerland Food Bank and Resource Centre, there is a need for food items during the spring and summer months.
John Bubb, president of the food bank and resource centre, said almost 80 per cent of the donations come in between Nov. 15 and Dec. 31 each year.
Ingrid Wuensche of the food bank, said the food bank’s supplies of cereals, chunky soup and canned pastas tend to run low from May to September.
Bubb and Wuensche said Summerland’s two grocery stores give generous support to the food bank.
Individual donations of food and money are also welcomed.
According to Bubb’s statistics, 258 households with 506 people were served during the 2017 fiscal year.
Of these, 139 were children.
The holiday hamper program alone delivered 138 hampers in 2017.
The numbers of households, individuals and holiday hampers all increased from the 2016 statistics, Bubb said.
In addition, the food bank and resource centre recorded 56 volunteers working a total of 1,300 hours over the past year.
However, Bubb said the number of volunteers and volunteer hours could both be low, since some volunteers and hours they worked were not recorded.
On Friday, Bubb and others at the food bank took time to thank the volunteers for their ongoing efforts.
“I can say with some certainty that we have changed Summerland and, created in it, a place of caring for those less fortunate than ourselves,” Bubb told the volunteers at a tea.
“Your selfless service changes people’s lives in a positive way — and has engendered respect and appreciation from all the agencies that we work with and receive funding from,” he said at the tea