Port Cares is asking local residents to give if they can afford
to give to the Annual Port Colborne Lions Club Food Drive
(October 16, 2023 - PORT COLBORNE) No matter where you live in Canada
today there are more and more people turning to local food banks to bridge the
gap between what they can afford to pay for food and what they need to put on their
tables.
“Food banks like Port Cares Reach Out Centre have been ringing the alarms for the
past year about the high cost of housing, inflation and skyrocketing food inflation.
Something has got to give and clearly we are experiencing the breaking point in our
local food banks where more food is being distributed every month than what is
being donated,” explains Christine Clark Lafleur, Chief Executive Officer, Port Cares
which runs the Reach Out Centre Food Bank in Port Colborne. She notes that the
community agency gave out nearly 25,000 pounds of food in September and
distributed more than 1,400 hot meals that same month.
Clark-Lafleur who serves as a member of the Board of Directors of FEEDOntario the
provincial association of registered food banks knows full well that the food bank
utilization trend isn’t just a local concern. “Registered food banks in Ontario are
assisting one out of every 26 people in the province. For the city of Port Colborne,
Port Cares is helping one in every eight local residents.”
The agency counts on the annual Port Colborne Lions Club Food Drive which has
been held every year for the past 40 years. For 2023 the food drive takes place is
Saturday, October 21st.
“It’s a community tradition. The Lions ask local residents to put their non-perishable
donations out on your porch or at their front door by 9 a.m. and volunteers will pick
them up by noon. We’re counting on cooperation from mother nature and its always
a wonderful gathering of so many local residents who truly care about their
neighbours in need,” says Clark Lafleur.
Special thanks are extended to the Port ColborneLions Club, Christian Life Assembly
Church for being the host, the community donors, the volunteers assisting, as well as
the local Port Colborne Sobey’s for providing the refreshments to help keep all the
helping hands fueled up for the morning.”
Interested volunteers can contact Lion Laura Sachs at 289-407-0106 or Lion Jan
Fuaco at 905-835-8157 to sign up to be a driver for the food pick-ups.