It's Feed N.L. Day! Here's how you can help food banks this holiday season

Friday is Feed N.L. Day! It's a day to raise money for food banks across Newfoundland and Labrador organizations that say they needpeople's help more than ever this year.

This year, CBC N.L. is again partnering with the Community Food Sharing Association, an organization that distributes to food banks across Newfoundland and Labrador year-round to help keep pantries stocked.Last year's campaign raised almost $194,000 for food banks across the province.

"We are like the food bank's food bank," Wanda Hillier, board chair with the association said Thursday.

The annual Make the Season Kind campaign will be virtual again this year. The public can support the Community Food Sharing Association by making a donation online: visit:www.cbc.ca/bekind.

Hillier said demand has gone up across the board at the province's food banks,including from people availing of the service for the first time.

"What we got is a lot of things happening with food insecurity, food pricing," she said.

"You've got a group of people who have never been in the position before and are now seeking options for their food and their own food security."

Feed N.L. Day has evolved over the years, transitioning from a staple turkey drive to a campaign centred on donations. Hillier said donations can go a long way to helping people this holiday season.

On Friday morning, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union Local 1620donated $25,000 to the cause.

"The Community Food Sharing Association has a far reach and we are happy to know that our donation will benefit families and communities across the province," saidDon Murphy, the local's business manager andfinancial secretary.

Hillier said there's higher purchasing powerwhen buying in bulk, which is why monetary donations go far.

"These funds can go directly to food banks in an instant," she said.

"The impact is so profound. It creates not only resources in terms of tangibles, like food and money, It's awareness. You can't put a price on it, to be honest."

Volunteers young and old

But food banks also need volunteers, not just donations.

Nora Gaulton, chairperson at the Marystown Family Aid Food Bank and Thrift Store, told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show her committee needs help.

At 61,Gaulton is the youngest among the volunteer group.

"Volunteers aren't there today like they were at one time. It's a different generation," she said.

"With COVID and the pandemic it's beenhectic at food banks. It slacked off a little bit this summer, but now since September we're up about 20 per cent again."

A daycare centre in Gander is going the opposite direction in terms of age this year, getting the help of three- and four-year-old children who gave up playtime toset up a hot cocoa and cookiestandto raise money for localfood banks.

Kids at the Wildflowers Child Care Centre collected wagons full of food and raised over $760 during their Dec. 1 campaign. And it wasn't their first community fundraiser; over the summer the kids raised money through a lemonade stand, with $680 going to the SPCA.

"We've been talking about kind things we can do this month leading up to Christmas," said Sarah Kirby, owner and operator of Wildflowers Child Care Centre.

"They're really proud of what they did. They've kind of been just really processing the fact that not everybody has what we have and that it's important that when you have enough to give that you help other people in your community."

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