CBC's FeedNL Day helped raise $193,815 for local food banks, so far

CBC Newfoundland and Labrador's FeedNL Day has helped raise $193,815 for food banks across the province so far — organizations who say they need people's help more than ever this year.  

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused numerous hurdles for the non-profit organizations, particularly during the lead-up to Christmas, when there is normally a flurry of activity on site.

"It's a different ball game now, totally different," said Peter Reccord, the chair of the food bank in Labrador City.

"Right about now, or a little bit later, we would have probably 125 volunteers working up in a big building, filling the hampers. and so on. This year we can't do any of that."

Instead, Reccord said the food bank is trying to feed people while maintaining safe distances, by booking people to stop in and receive vouchers for grocery stores and then shop for themselves. 

Donations coming into a food bank in Corner Brook are set aside for 72 hours as a safety precaution, but there's a steady stream of people coming through the doors daily as its coordinator says food bank use peaks in November and December.

But Joy Connors said the Bay of Islands Food Bank Network has to balance that current demand with future needs.

"We're expecting not only December, the rest of December, to be busy, but the upcoming months, January, February, March as well, those are challenging times for families that are on a fixed income," Connors told CBC's Newfoundland Morning.

Shifting strategies 

Those are just some of the many ways food banks are trying to make sure the people who rely on them continue to be fed.

Emmaus House, a food bank in downtown St. John's tucked behind the Basilica of St. John the Baptist, has felt the financial implications from reduced church services. It's run by volunteers from five local parishes and the donations they collect.

"It is making it more and more difficult, because the people are simply not in the church," Susan Halley, the chair of Emmaus House, told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show Friday.

With collection plate funds slim, Emmaus House has looked further into the community for help, as it services up to 800 people in the downtown core and beyond.

"We're more and more relying on the generosity of others to subsidize what could've been extra in the churches during a normal year. So donations — very much welcome," Halley said.

Emmaus House is facing a food squeeze: with only residential refrigerators on site, it is limited in what donations it can accept. Halley said they'd like to offer more fresh milk and produce options, particularly for the 112 or so children they feed, but need better equipment to do so.

"We've been desperately trying to see if we can get some commercial refrigeration," she said, adding grant-writing efforts so far have been unsuccessful, with stiff competition from other organizations also seeking help.

'We have to do our part'

FeedNL Day is part of a broader campaign this month to support the Community Food Sharing Association, a hub and distributor for numerous local food banks around Newfoundland and Labrador. 

The annual food drive kicked off this morning with your local CBC morning show, continued during the day and culminated in a special edition of Here & Now. The fundraiser will continue until Dec. 31.

The COVID-19 pandemic means we can't greet visitors at our stations, and we've had to cancel plans for things like a live show at the mall.

"Just like everything else in life in 2020, the FeedNL campaign is something else upended by COVID. The easy thing would have been to say, 'We can't do what we usually do so we won't do it this year,'" said Peter Gullage, executive producer for CBC News in the province.

"But we know from all the COVID news coverage over these past months that there is a strain in the community, and we have to do our part," he said.

"FeedNL Day won't sound the same on the radio, it won't look the same on TV as past years, but the mission to help our neighbours is the same."

If you would like to get involved in the drive — part of CBC's campaign this year, Make the Season Kind — please click this link to find out how to make a donation. You can also type cbc.ca/bekind to find more ways to get involved across the country.

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