NOTL Lions will collect food for Newark Neighbours Saturday

Newark Neighbours has another food collection coming up this Saturday, to help refill shelves once Easter food boxes are packed and delivered this week.

There is enough food onhand, either donated by individuals, collected through last weekend’s porch pickup, or in some cases purchased by Newark Neighbours, to look after holiday dinners.

However, the need doesn’t end there, says Newark chair and food bank manager Cindy Grant. Clients will continue to visit twice a month and pick up what they need for their families.

To help fill that need, this Saturday, March 30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., members of the NOTL Lions Club will be setting up tables outside both Hendriks’ Your Independent Grocers on Queen Street, and Phil’s Independent in Virgil. Volunteers will be collecting drop-offs outside the stores and delivering to Newark Neighbours to help get them through the coming weeks, say Grant. Coffee, cereal, peanut butter, rice, canned tomatoes and crackers are high on the list of food that is needed.

Grant was recently featured in the spring edition of the CAA magazine that goes out to members. CAA Niagara has made a $1 million commitment to support Feed Niagara, an organization dedicated to helping those in need in Niagara, and the article was intended to highlight the good work the local food bank is doing.

Grant, who prefers to stay out of the limelight, says while she’s not crazy about receiving attention, she’s happy to do anything that helps bring awareness to growing food insecurity and the increasing need of food banks, including Newark Neighbours.

The $1 million donation is intended to be spread over 10 years, with $100,000 donated each year. Newark Neighbours is one of 10 food banks in Niagara that receives assistance from Feed Niagara.

Feed Niagara, Grant explains, buys food in bulk, and distributes it based proportionally on the number of clients in each of the food banks it supports.

“We should be getting a donation soon that will include milk, eggs, cheese, ground beef and rice,” she said leading up to the holiday weekend.

Newark is also a member of Feed Ontario, which sends staples and fresh food to more than 1,200 Feed Ontario members.

All of these organizations are seeing the increasing need and use of food banks, said Grant.

The CAA article was the result of an interview last fall, when she told the interviewer Newark Neighbours, an organizing the has been serving the community of NOTL for more than 50 years, had tripled the number of families it had been helping since 2020. It’s gone up more since then, she told The Local.

And she thanks all the generous donors, the volunteers who picked up food items from porches across town, the NOTL Lions members who will collect food this Saturday, and the businesses who help make it possible, for their support in feeding those in need in NOTL.

For more information about Newark Neighbours and a list of the most needed general supplies visit www.newarkneighbours.ca

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