Now THAT’S some kind of grocery shopping! In Pictures at the Food Bank

By David F. Rooney

Every year the Food Bank orders in a massive shipment of food from Cooper’s just before Christmas and this year was no different.

“It’s an awful lot of food but I can’t tell you how all of those pallets weighed but it cost a lot of money,” said Patty Larson, Community Connections outreach manager and Food Bank coordinator.  How much? Well, I can tell you it cost $10,400. This where people’s donations go.”

Of course, this doesn’t mean people should stop giving to the Food Bank. Almost all of the food unloaded last Friday will be gone by January. Raising money and encouraging people to donate food to the Food Bank is a year-round campaign. Please give generously. It goes to help our neighbours and friends.

Larson manages it with the help of many volunteers some of whom came out with Cooper’s staff to help with the unloading and, as you can in the photos below, have it down to a fine art.

Volunteer Larry Olsson reaches for a case of Kraft Dinner off a load of groceries delivered to the Community Connections Food Bank on Friday. David F. Rooney photo
Case after case of food is sent sliding down a ramp into the Food Bank. David F. Rooney photo
Here it comes! A volunteer waits for a case of food that is sent sliding down the ramp. David F. Rooney photo
Once the cases arrive other volunteers, like Michelle Gabriele and Aaron Noble carry them over to a storage space where Food Bank Coordinator Patti Larson (center back) and Linda Banks (right) decide where they should be stacked. David F. Rooney photo
Cooper's Lloyd Keates snags a case off the last pallet. David F. Rooney photo
At the end there's nothing else to do but stack the empty pallets and take them back to Cooper's. David F. Rooney photo