Yukoners show their generosity with spring food drive

Whitehorse residents showedtheirgenerosity once again this year,with piles of donations forthe local food bank.

More than3,000 green bags full of food were collected over threedays this week. The annual spring food drive isorganized by churches and youth groups.

TristanNewsome, executive director of the Whitehorse Food Bank, says it's a very important time of year for food donations.

"We are going into a real difficult season for the food bank," Newsome said. "The donations we get typically correspond with holidays, so we typically start gettinglow on food during the summer months."

Newsomesays the spring drive helps the food bank get byuntil Christmas.

"It really kind of boosts and totally stocks our shelves," he said.

Better bags

Newsomesays the Yukon Employees Union helped out this year, along with Northern Vision Development. Whitehorse Motors donated the green tote bags that were distributed around the city.

The cloth bags hold more food and are a lot easier to handle than the paper bags used in the past, Newsome says.

He also says the demand for food is growing every year.

"We servicearound 1,500 people,on a monthly basis. 35per cent of those are children, whichisa real unfortunate reality."

He says the food drive this week has filled the food bank's shelves, and he can't thank the volunteers and Whitehorse residents enough.