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By Dorothy Brotherton
IT’S OFTEN SAID there is plenty of food produced to feed the world’s hungry – the problem is distribution. A Kelowna church is trying to do a small part to
correct that problem.
For pastor Geoff DeJager, his church’s connection to a local food bank is “at the heart of the gospel. It’s about envisioning the day we’ll face the Lord and hear him say, ‘I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.’” (Matthew 25:35-40)
DeJager noted it’s at least a 15 minute drive to the downtown Kelowna Community Food Bank (KCFB)
from the Rutland neighbourhood, where his Church of the Nazarene is located.
Food is distributed once a month, and an individual may get a couple of banana
boxes full of groceries. “To carry [them] on public transit is impossible, and many low income people don’t have their own transportation,” said DeJager.
His church was motivated to get involved by the fact that, every week, people
were coming to their office looking for help – and to other churches also.
Last spring, a task force was formed – at the invitation of Willow Park Church, also in Rutland – to plan how churches could coordinate efforts with the KCFB.
A three-month pilot project got underway, with Church of the Nazarene as the
Rutland distribution centre.
Hampers were assembled at the food bank and delivered to the church, where
volunteers took care of distribution. The pilot project was pronounced a
success.
A permanent distribution plan got underway in January, just in time for the
heart of a cold winter and the blow of an economic recession. Since January 1,
some 50 families each month have been served at the Church of the Nazarene.
“It’s hard to gauge how much the economic downturn has hurt, but people stop by the
church every week asking for help to make ends meet,” DeJager said. Now they can be referred, not to a remote downtown location they
may not be able to get to, but to a neighbourhood church, which distributes
food every second and fourth Thursday.
Clients must register with the KCFB, and are eligible to pick up hampers once a
month.
“A lot of families are working hard, but for minimum wage, and can’t make ends meet,” added DeJager.
Vonnie Lavers, head of the KCFB, said their experience correlates with the
church’s; hampers are going mainly to the working poor.
In addition, the food bank serves the disabled, the unemployable, the addicted,
those on social assistance and those generally falling behind.
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“We’ve most definitely seen an increase, and more short-term need, especially for
those waiting between being laid off and Employment Insurance,” said Lavers.
The 10 to 17 week waiting periods grew when processing services fell behind.
More people have now been hired to speed things along in Employment Insurance
and Social Assistance services.
Lavers is happy with the pilot project at Church of the Nazarene, although no
more projects of this nature are currently planned.
The KCFB works with Church Serve, made up of people from many area churches.
Church Serve volunteers deliver food bank hampers to people with disabilities,
shut-ins and others who are not able to pick them up.
During March, the food bank distributed $212,570 worth of food to 2,565 people.
DeJager doesn’t see the need letting up any time soon.
“Kelowna is an expensive place to live,” he pointed out. For example, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation says
the average rent for a three-bedroom apartment requires a gross annual income
of $42,500 in the Okanagan, to keep housing costs below 30 per cent of income.
The food bank encourages gardeners to plant an extra row of produce for the food
bank, in a program called Plant a Row, Grow a Row. Last year it brought in
20,000 pounds of food.
At harvest time this year, Church of the Nazarene will be there to ease the
distribution logistics.
June 2009
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