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Lake Country firefighters collecting cash instead of cans for food bank

Firefighters will be at Save-On Foods and IGA Sunday, Dec. 5, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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Members of the Lake Country Fire Department will be collecting cash, cheque or gift certificate donations instead of physical donations this year due to limited space at the Lumby Food Bank. Firefighters will be at Save-On Foods and IGA Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021. (Brendan Shykora - Morning Star)

Lake Country firefighters won’t be collecting canned goods door-to-door this holiday season, but they’ll still be supporting the local food bank.

Members of the Lake Country Fire Department will be at Save-On Foods and IGA Sunday, Dec. 5 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with some fire apparatus to show the kids while accepting donations of cash, cheques or gift certificates to support the Lake Country Food Bank.

The food bank has a limited amount of space and volunteers to sort physical donations, but they’ve had more people in need register for support this month. The food bank’s supplier connections allow them to leverage financial donations significantly more than the average citizen, meaning cash, cheque or gift certificate donations go further in serving community members in need.

“Our members love participating in the annual door-to-door campaign to collect donations for the Lake Country Food Bank,” said Deputy Chief Brent Penner. “But COVID-19 has changed things a lot the past two years, so we’ve adapted our collection drive to raise awareness about ways to support families in our community through the Food Bank in a different way. We’ll be at the local grocery stores on Sunday with fire trucks to draw attention to the opportunity to give, and to accept donations in a different form than the usual cans and dry goods.”

The firefighters usually support the RCMP Cram the Cruiser event, but that event has also had to change. This year the RCMP campaign has focused on donations of toys and gifts for children and teens, requesting they be dropped off at the RCMP station by Dec. 10. The firefighters are accepting donations of gift certificates from local businesses, coffee shops and stores, and are encouraging citizens to think about providing a gift card for something a local teen might appreciate this Christmas.

The Rotary Club of Lake Country has arranged a bulk purchase of gift cards with Save-On Foods. Any gift cards purchased through the Rotary Club gives an immediate eight per cent directly to the food bank. For a limited time, those donations will be matched by a benefactor.The firefighters will be at Save-On Sunday to sell the cards and accept donations.

IGA also has $10 and $20 bags of ‘Set the Christmas Table’ themed goods available for purchase in the store, and they’ve arranged for the contents and transportation of the bags to the food bank based on the Christmas hamper distribution schedule for community members in need. That way, people can donate without having to drop off the bags themselves.

Financial donations can also be made directly to through the Lake Country Food Bank’s website.

READ MORE: Lake Country police driving for toys, games

READ MORE: Lumby Food Bank shares helpful donation tips


Brendan Shykora
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Brendan Shykora

About the Author: Brendan Shykora

I started as a carrier at the age of 8. In 2019 graduated from the Master of Journalism program at Carleton University.
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