THUNDER BAY - The shelves at the Thunder Bay Shelter House are quickly becoming empty and though normally the spring food drive is enough to carry them into the fall, this year staff and volunteers are hoping the public can help them restock and continue feeding more than 700 people a day.
“We can typically keep the food going until the fall food drive that happens in October, but this summer we went through a lot more than we typically do,” said Katie Watson, volunteer coordinator with Shelter House Thunder Bay.
A summer food drive in support of Shelter House will be taking place on Saturday and Sunday at all three Metro locations from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Some of the most needed items include tomato sauce and pasta, peanut butter and jam, canned beans and vegetables, tuna and canned meat, cereal, oatmeal, and rice.
Other essential items include condiments, crackers, granola bars, salad dressing, coffee and tea, canned soups, salt and pepper, spices, and sugar.
“We hope to fill the shelves,” Watson said. “We don’t weigh our food but we like to stock it as much as we can because we can go through it really quickly. We did a food drive back in April that filled the shelves and we are back to being empty.”
Watson added that they have not held a traditional food drive in the summer for a long time and while usage of the shelter remains high throughout much of the year, there are less supports in June, July, and August to help keep the shelves stocked.
“Our numbers stay high throughout the summer and they have stayed high all the way through since January,” Watson said. “We have a lot of support from agencies in the colder months, so lots of the time those agencies will bring their own food, so when we don’t have those supports, we go through the food much quicker.”
Metro will once again be preparing pre-packaged bags that contained the most needed items and can be purchased for $10.
Watson said even though it is the summer, she is confident the people of Thunder Bay will once again come out and help them fill their shelves and feed those who are most vulnerable in the community.
“Historically they have been super successful,” she said. “We do see such good support from Thunder Bay. There are always people willing to give extra. We also get a lot of support from our community in terms of volunteering. I am very optimistic we can pull this off.”
