Regina Food Bank hopes to drive away hunger

The Regina Food Bank is hoping to drive away hunger with a food drive Thursday.

CBC Radio's The Morning Edition's Sheila Coles will interview people from around Regina involved with the food bank in some way. They will tell their stories to the rest of the city throughout the morning. 

Listeners will hear all about the ways Regina Food Bank has had an effect on the city and its people. 

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Steve Compton, CEO of the food bank, said the food security agency also gets non-food donations from companies and organizations in and around the city. 

The food bank then gives those donations to organizations in need like schools or women's shelters. 

"What our hope is, is that if we're able to help them do their work, in the long haul and it might sound a little cliché, but it shortens the line at the food bank as well too," Compton said. 

Gerry Wagner, who has been volunteering at the food bank since 1997, said there are misconceptions and stigmas surrounding food bank use. 

Wagner started volunteering at the food bank after retirement when it was suggested by friend and founder Ed Bloos. 

"It's a feeling of doing something worth while," Wagner said.

He said sometimes those in need feel uncomfortable, and some members of the public have misconceptions about food bank use.

"A lot of people think that people come here and abuse it," he said, adding while that does happen on rare occasions, it is not the case for the majority of people.

"I would say the majority of people that come here definitely have to," he said. "We just try to make them feel comfortable."

He said food bank is not a 'come once and be enrolled for life' type of deal, saying he knows users are often those stuck in a difficult place financially. 

Regina Food Bank is teaming up with Farm Credit Canada for Thursday's push to fill the shelves, which is called Drive Away Hunger. The drive is taking place across Canada and all proceeds will go toward food banks.