A local family foundation is behind a generous donation to the Central Okanagan Food Bank, which will help both Kelowna and West Kelowna families in need.
The Gardiner Family Foundation donated $20,000, which will go towards helping the more than 4,000 individuals who access food bank services on a monthly basis.
The Central Okanagan Food Bank’s Interim Executive Director Tammie Watson is thankful for the support from the Gardiner Family Foundation.
“Shauna Gardiner and the Gardiner Family Foundation’s support of our mission to end hunger in the community is truly admirable, and allows us to ensure local residents can gather around the table and enjoy a meal together as a family – which is important for the health and wellbeing of every household, especially children and seniors” she said.
Shauna Gardiner with the Gardiner Family Foundation, responded by saying the ability to have healthy, nourishing food is a human right.
“We feel it is incredibly important that those who have, help those who have less. There is more than enough food to go around in our community and we all need to be aware that so many families and young children are going hungry and don’t know where their next meal will come from. The Central Okanagan Food Bank is not funded by the government, which came as a surprise to us, so it is up to all of us to chip in what we can to end hunger in our city.”
The Central Okanagan Food Bank provides food assistance to anywhere between 80 to 150 households per day, 33 per cent of which are children under the age of 15.
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