Carving for a cause

Local carvers were busy whittling away a need over the weekend.

Shoppers at the River Street Metro were given a special gift on Sunday when they made a donation of more than five dollars to the Regional Food Distribution Association. The fruit and veggie fridge magnets take hours to complete. They were a way to help ramp up the food bank’s three-day campaign to get 13 tons of food for its 30 agencies throughout Northwestern Ontario.

“It’s been very very successful so far. We’ve had a lot of people stopping in, cases of food going out, a lot of financial donations which are great,” RFDA member Rolland Manning said. “We’ve had them on board for several years now and with the carving club of course they provide a personal touch with their magnets.”

The drive was down 29 per cent last year but Manning thinks the association will meet its goal this year, which is good news as demand increases every day. Food from Southern Ontario is being shipped up here less. That doesn’t help the cause as numbers continue to increase Manning said.

“That puts the crunch here a little bit in that we are going to the public a little bit more and we’re having more people that are coming to the food banks,” he said.

The association is looking to local food producers to try and fill the demand. Manning said any donation, no matter how big or small, is always appreciated.