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Busy times still for local food banks GREGGCHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
Meanwhile the RHC food bank is seeing the end of its usual “winter crush” period from Nov. 15 to Jan. 15 when the numbers jump for people needing help with their food budgets. Most of that increase is due to seasonal workers getting laid off for win- ter. Montcalm said the food bank is in a good position thanks to all the donations of cash and food items brought in from various food drives organized during the past De- cember. “The people in Clarence-Rockland are so generous,”he said.“As it is now, our pressing need is space.” In Alfred-Plantagenet Township and The Nation municipality, the Alfred and Riceville food banks all reported a busy Christmas season and some increase in demand for some of their services. “We’re going to have a good 15 per cent more (people) this year,” said Bertrand East, Alfred Food Bank president. “We’re getting people coming in from Ottawa.” He added that the increased number of
drop-ins who originate from Ottawa are people who are moving out of the city and into the countryside looking for cheaper rentals. Then they have to balance their finances against the need to pay for trans- portation for work, home heating, and food. The Alfred Food Bank serves the villages of Alfred, Plantagenet, Lefaivre andWendo- ver. East noted that during the Christmas season many folks in Wendover and Plan- tagenet are able to get through December with the help of the annual Christmas ham- per program of the Wendover Knights of Columbus. “After Christmas, those people then come to the Alfred Food Bank,” he said. “We also have lots of people who work in the sum- mer and then need help in the winter.” One bit of good news for the Riceville Food Bank in The Nation is that this past Christmas the non-profit agency was not plagued with any break-ins or thefts at its County Road 16 location in the heart of the village. The previous two years the small community food bank had to get some emergency help from the Ottawa Food Bank because thieves broke in and stole almost all the food and gifts collected for families for Christmas. Rev. Maynard Chant reported a good sea- son for the Riceville group. “We had great contributions from our communities,”he said.“We had calls coming in from Plantagenet, Curran, and St-Isidore of people and groups wanting to donate. The Christmas program saw 85 family boxes handed out.” The Riceville Food Bank also hosted its second annual community dinner. This year’s attendance rose to 140 compared to last year’s debut event which seated 80. Two things Rev. Chant noted that the food bank could use more of are snack foods for children’s school lunches and frozen food products like meat or fish. In Russell Township Lisette Thibault, pres- ident of the Good Neighbours Food Bank, reported that a large number of families in
the area still need help stretching their gro- cery budgets. The good news, she added, is that community support for the food bank and its service continues to grow to meet the need. “Although the demand keeps increas- ing, the donations also keep increasing,” Thibault said during a phone interview. “Ev- ery year we find there are new people who call in and say, ‘We want to do something.’” She noted that some people get “very creative”with their fundraising ideas. Along with the traditional food collection drives, she has heard about people who do food bank donations as part of their annual of- fice or family“gift exchange”and other ways of raising money or gathering food dona- tion pledges. The Good Neighbours Food Bank helps out families in the villages of Russell, Em- brun, Limoges and Marionville. In the case of the latter two villages which straddle the boundary of the township with other mu- nicipalities, the food bank makes no distinc- tion on which side of the border a family lives. If they need help with their food bud- get, Good Neighbours will help. During the past decade she has served as president for the food bank, Thibault has noticed that demand on the non-profit agency’s services has kept on growing in Russell Township. “Ten years ago, we used to help 30 to 40 families a month,” she said. “Now we’re talking an average of 80 families a month. During Christmas we’re talking maybe 120 families. We easily help around 2200 people every year in total.” Thibault cited a number of factors de- manding the continued presence of the food bank. Russell Township’s population continues to grow as people move out of the city and into the country, seeking a less- expensive lifestyle. Also there are more sin- gle-parent families struggling to look after children on a single income. Weather also is a factor sometimes during the winter on whether or not people need to go to the food bank for help. In those cas- es, Thibault noted, it comes down to fami- lies having to spend more money to light and heat the home and then seek aid from the food bank for basic groceries.
613 850-5744 La Maison du Store All kinds of blinds La gamme complète de stores 3433, ch. Gendron, Hammond ON www.dannysandradecor.com “I’m very confident this is going to get settled,” he said. “Ideally, we’d like to stay where we are. We’ve already moved twice in the past 20 years. It’s a business to have to move.” The Christmas holiday rush may be over but that does not mean that business has slowed down all that much in January for all of the community food banks in the re- gion. For the Rockland Help Centre (RHC), the big goal for this year is finding more room for its food bank operation, either at the existing Chamberland Boulevard location or somewhere else that is still convenient for its clientele. RHC officials met with Clar- ence-Rockland council members and city officials to explain the situation and Con- rad Montcalm, RHC president, is optimistic about the future.
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Venez vous joindre à nous à l’occasion d’un vin-fromage pour souligner la première année de la Nouvelle Chambre de Commerce Clarence-Rockland (NCCCR)
Clarence - Rockland
Le mardi 5 février 2013 de 17h à 21h à l’Académie canadienne inter nationale de hockey située au 8710, chemin du Comté 17, Rockland
Nous vous invitons à participer à l’événement accompagné d’un commerçant non-membre de la Chambre. Ceci leur permettra de mieux connaître les activités de la Chambre et d’élargir leur réseau au sein des commerçants de la Cité de Clarence-Rockland.
RSVP par le 30 janvier, 2013 à info@ccclarencerockland.com ou par téléphone au 613-761-1954
Nous remercions les membres de la NCCCR pour leur support au cours de la dernière année.
VENEZ GRANDIR AVEC NOUS !
Come join us at a Wine and Cheese to celebrate the Clarence-Rockland New Chamber of Commerce’s (CRNCC) first year anniversary.
ROCKLAND/ORLÉANS LIONS BINGO EVERY TUESDAY AT 7 PM JEAN-MARC LALONDE ARENA
BINGO DES LIONS DE ROCKLAND/ORLÉANS TOUS LES MARDIS À 19h00 ARÉNA JEAN-MARC LALONDE Venez vous joindre à nous pour une soirée de bingo. Tous les profits vont pour les organismes de bienfaisance de la communauté. 7 parties pour une somme garantie de 2 650,00$ en plus d’une partie spéciale « lève-tôt » de 200,00$ - 3 parties spéciales 50/50 - Partie « twoonie » progressive partagée 65/35 - Partie « bonanza » 50/50 avec cartes échangeables - Vente de billets « Nevada » - Cantine sur les lieux
Tuesday Februar y 5, 2013 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Canadian Inter national Hockey Academy located at 8710 County Road 17, Rockland
Come and join us for an evening of bingo. All proceeds going to charity in the community.
We invite you to bring a non-member to this event. This will be an opportunity for them to further learn about the Chamber activities and to broaden their network with the City of Clarence-Rockland business community.
7 games with a guaranteed payout of $2,650.00 plus an early bird special of $200.00 - 3 special 50/50 games - Progressive twoonie pot of 65/35 split - Bonanza game 50/50 exchangeable cards - Sale of Nevada tickets - Canteen on site
RSVP by January 30, 3013 at info@ccclarencerockland.com or by phone at 613-761-1954.
We thank all CRNCC members for their support over the past year.
COME GROWWITH US!
www.ccclarencerockland.ca
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