Food Bank

Good Morning

My name is Mary Butler and I am the CBS/Paradise Food Bank representative for All Saints Parish.

The Food Bank has been in existence since 1994, when all churches in CBS decided to form one food bank to assist the needy in the area.

The intent of the Food Bank is to assist those in need in the towns of CBS and Paradise in special or extraordinary circumstances, rather than providing a regular scheduled program.

Our area extends from Seal Cove to Paradise and we serve approximately 130 clients a month. It could be a single family or a family of 7.  However the hampers will have sufficient food for 2-3 days with consideration given to household size.

The Food Bank is open to the public Monday - Friday 9am-2pm daily except for holidays.

Anyone having problems need only to contact Faye, who is the coordinator and only paid staff member. She will assist them and look after their needs keeping in mind the rules of the Food Bank. Clients will be considered for assistance on need and circumstances.

We also supply school lunches at the request of a school representative.

The board consists of representatives from 12 churches and 2 towns, CBS and Paradise. We meet monthly to discuss any issues. Also, there is an AGM once a year.

We receive our food and monetary donations from schools, churches, the general public, business community and service clubs, Community Food Sharing, Costco and Marie's Bakery.

Food drives are usually held during Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year we collected from the schools approximately 10 truckloads of food. Both times are usually very busy because the representatives have to pick up the food from the schools, then it has to be dated and stored on shelves.

Also, at Christmas the Food Bank has to supply approximately 250 hampers, which the Food Bank representatives, with the help of volunteers have to prepare and have ready for the clients. This all takes place in a single day.

Also, as most of you have heard we have to move our location. However, with Gods help we have found another location rather quickly. We will be moving to Manuel's around the first or second week in November. The only drawback is now we will be paying higher rental fees and paying our own utility bills. Rent has now gone from $650 heat and light included to $1800 and pay your own utilities.

So, in closing I would like to thank you for your support all year and I hope I can continue to count on you in the months to come especially for our Christmas Hampers in December 2012.

Thank You
Mary Butler
Food Bank Representative.

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Meals on Wheels

All Saints has always had the reputation of a modern, vibrant and caring Church, with a passion not only for our Spiritual lives, but also for our mortal well being, by instigating dozens of outreach programs.

The program in which I am involved and am most proud of is our “Meals–on-Wheels” program, which was started in 1989.  The aim of the program was to insure that our elderly, disabled, and lonely people would receive at least one hot and healthy meal every week; now one meal per week does not seem very helpful, but in many cases it is not the food that is most important – it is the reality of someone dropping by regularly with a smile and a chat so showing that someone cares!

When this program was begun it was to be a totally free service; but our clients decided that they would rather pay for it as it would give them a feeling of some independence.  A small fee was the levied and is still in place today at a cost of $4.00 per week.  Our deliveries range from Topsail in the East to Seal Cove in the West, and everywhere in between to anyone in need, regardless of age, sex or religion.

Our team consists of four kitchen staff who come in at 07:00AM to prepare the food, and four drivers who arrive at about 11:00AM to help serve up the food.  By the way, four of our members are 80 years of age and older – two of them have been with the program ever since it was started!

As with other things old, there are times when we have breakdowns, and are short of help, so if anyone out there has an hour or two to spare on Wednesday and would like to help out, we would be very happy if you would leave your name and number at the Church office, or as is stated in the Candle, “check with Charlie” so that in time of need we can contact you.

God Bless, and thank you very much!!!

Charlie Barnes
Meals on Wheels Team

Church Office:           834-4501
                                    office@allsaintsparish.ca

Charlie Barnes:          834-

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