Last day for food hamper applications

This afternoon is the deadline for those in need to apply for the Salvation Army's Christmas food hampers.

The food bank is bustling with volunteers busily sprinting around the stock room, organizing food donations. A special Christmas area is set up adjacent to the regular food bank shelves where hampers wait to be made by Vernon's food bank elves.

But what if a needy family missed the deadline, or experienced a sudden financial crisis?

"We wouldn't turn people away," Kendra Cain says. "Every year we get people at the last minute."

But the advance applications do make things easier to coordinate for the many hardworking volunteers.

"I think it's a wonderful thing," a woman applying for a hamper said. "Even for working people like myself, it can be hard." She said the stocking stuffer treats in the hamper will be greatly enjoyed by her daughter.

"I don't know what the community would do without it," she said.

Cain says hampers for single individuals include a ham with all the fixings, while family hampers contain ingredients for a full turkey dinner. She asks the community to contribute more non-perishble items, as the food bank can't have enough at this time of year.

The Salvation Army is looking to recruit as many Kettle Campaign volunteers as possible.

"We want to be ringing as many bells as we can in every location in Vernon," Cain says of the fundraiser.

Anyone interested in volunteering can contact Kendra Cain at: 250-307-7770.

—Charlotte Helston
chelston@infotelnews.ca
(250)-309-5230