The shelves at the Fernie Food Bank can be bare this time of year as donations that came in thick during the winter tend to dry up in the summer months, said family service worker Pearl Jones.
Luckily a number of organizations have made generous donations to make sure the food bank can continue serving needy families in the valley.
On June 26, Kettle Black Bartending donated about 8,000 pounds of food raised during the second annual One Bag Challenge, to the food bank, far more than they collected last year.
For the challenge, Kettle Black nominated five other businesses to donate a bag of groceries to the food bank. Businesses who accepted the challenge got to nominate other businesses to do the same. At the end of the initiative, Kettle Black had 300 bags of groceries, donated by over a hundred businesses to show for their efforts.
“It feels like this year there was friendly competition between businesses, which was really fun,” said Kettle Black co-owner Shea Hawkins. “We’re extremely excited about that.”
“We wanted to be part of the solution,” she added.
Kettle Black partnered with Three Sisters Day Spa for the One Bag Challenge, which hosted food drop-offs.
Later that day, Tammy Ogden, representing the local 4-H Club, donated hundreds of pounds of meat to the food bank.
Jones thanked all the organizations for their help.
“I just want to thank the community for coming together and bringing such a wonderful amount of food, it is so needed and we are so grateful,” she said. “I’d say Fernie is one of the best places when it comes to people giving from their hearts.”