Thanksgiving is three days away and shelves at the food bank are nearly bare.
Ann Minosky, who manages the food bank with her husband George, is quick to point out that holiday donations have come in it’s just that they’ve already nearly run out.
“I just got a call from one school to pick stuff up on Friday and that helps,” Minosky says. “The Church (of Jesus Christ) of Latter Day Saints did a food drive – four truckloads – most of that’s already gone.”
The food bank goes through roughly four truckloads of food each month. It provides needy families with a box full of fruit, veggies, canned fish, pasta, juice, Kraft dinner, eggs, hamburger, milk, bread and the occasional sweets on the first three Wednesdays of every month. The food is supposed to feed a family for three to four days. Each Monday and Friday, the food bank provides bread, margarine, and soup to help get the families through until the following month.
The food bank relies on the generosity of the community, either through food or cash donations. Minosky says people are usually pretty good at remembering the food bank but things get tight around this time of year.
“During and right after the summer donations drop,” Minosky says. “After Thanksgiving and before Christmas, people start donating again. I think during the summer people go on holidays and they forget about us.”
Minosky says she’s hopeful the sparsely filled shelves of food will last until the end of the month but it won’t be easy – the food bank gives out 180 cardboard boxes full of food on each of the three distribution days every month. To donate to the food bank, drop by 1393 Marwalk Crescent or donate online at www.campbellriverfoodbank.com