June 22, 2012: A Tonne of Support for the Saint John Community Food Basket
On Friday June 22, 2012, J.D. Irving, Limited hosted a “Welcome Summer Head Office BBQ and Community Food Drive”. Approximately 300 JDI head office employees participated in the week-long food drive that ultimately filled two half-ton trucks. The trucks were taken over to the Irving Pulp and Paper Mill and weighed on the industrial truck scales, and it totaled one tonne of food. The BBQ was a nice start to summer, and it provided the venue to give back to the community.
Thank you 300 Union staff! You helped to “Feed the Need” for others in Greater Saint John.
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Left to right: David McLaughlin, JDI; Mary Martell, JDI; Marilyn Wornell, JDI; Bob Chambers, JDI; Carolyn Danells, Saint John Community Food Basket; and Carla Daley, JDI |
About the Saint John Community Food Basket:
- They have been in operation for 29 years.
- They receive no government funding, and they are all volunteer-run.
- They were the first community food bank in the area.
- They recognized the need in other communities and reached out to church groups, community organizations, etc. As a result of this, an additional 14 food banks were initiated between St. Stephen and Sussex (Saint John Food Basket does not operate these other food baskets, but they helped initiate them).
- They help approximately 900 adults and 250 children each month, filling 500 orders a month from April to December.
- They double that number between January and March - giving all families double orders, because of the extra costs that the families have during the winter months.
- They are always working three months ahead.
- Summer is the hardest time to fill the orders.
- Because of this contribution, they will be able to get through the summer.