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The Huron Expositor • February 8, 2006 Pops 7
Food bank serving Seaforth's hungry for 10 years
Joint project of area churches begins to fill a need in the local community
Susan $undertmark
As one of the youngest food banks
in Huron County, the Seaforth and
District Food Bank is celebrating its
10th year serving the needs of the
hungry in the Seaforth area.
"Our community has been
tremendous in its support. Because
of our community, we've never gone
short of food. We're often in a pretty
good position compared to other
food banks," says Joan Spittal, chair
of the Seaforth Food Bank board.
The Seaforth Food Bank, a joint
project of seven area churches,
began
after a meeting at Northside
United Church 10 years ago.
"There were other food banks
around and we were showing need
in Seaforth - people were talking
about t it," says Jim Murray, one of
the original board members who
served for the first three years.
Creating a board where, each of
the eight original churches (St.
Columban Church closed recently
leaving seven members) had one
Correction
The Maitland Valley Conservation
Authority is asking for an additional
'$20,712 from Huron East, not
$214,000 as was reported in the Feb.
1 edition of the Huron Expositor.
The $214,000 request is being divid-
ed among the 15 municipalities in
the Maitland Valley watershed.
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February 9 & 10, 2006
OFA President Ron Bonnett and
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The Presidents will be at the
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representative, was a good struc-
ture, says Murray.
"It's been successful through the
years. I'm proud that it's still run-
ning," he says.
Laura Crawford, one of the found-
ing members of the Seaforth Food
Bank, says she noticed the need for
a food bank in town while working
at the Seaforth Christmas bureau
at Bethel Bible Church more than
10 years ago.
"People were saying they were
having a hard time getting food at
the other food banks in the area
because they lived too far away
from them," says Laura Crawford.
"I didn't know what to do so I
talked to the pastor and we started
exploring food banks in the area
and how they're run," she remem-
bers.
Once members of Bethel Bible
Church approached other churches
in Seaforth and area, they discov-
ered the same thought of opening a
local food bank had been considered
by other ministers.
"The ministers had just started
talking about it," she says. "We felt
a need to respond in a Christian
way and not judge those who had a
need."
The committee approached town
hall, which has provided free space
for the food bank behind town hall
for the past 10 years.
Crawford also recalls that the
Seaforth library donated shelves to
store the food.
"It fell together so nicely, it was
meant to be. And, it has definitely
been something Seaforth needs,"
she says.
While the number of clients per
month has ranged from 100 to over
200, it decreased slightly in 2005
from the previous year at an aver-
age of 160 clients a month. In 2004,
the average was 174 people a
month.
In 2003, a jump to over 200 clients
a month saw the Seaforth Food
Bank begin a letter -writing cam-
paign to .local politicians protesting
low social assistance levels since the
provincial government reduced
social assistance
in 1995 by 22
per cent and has
not increased it.
Spittal says
the letter cam-
paign, which
encouraged
clients of the
food bank to
share stories of
their hardships
with their local
MP and MPP,
did not receive
much response
from govern-
ment.
"The gap
between the rich
and poor has
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For bus transportation details contact:
- Huron County Fed. of Ag.
- 1-800-511-1135 or,519-482-9642
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- Wayne Hamilton 519-263-5422
- Bob Hallam 519-529-7345
- Peter Heinrich 519-523-4461
- Hill & Hill Farms 519-233-3218
been widening over the past five
years and my personal thought is
that I don't think anyone imagined
food banks would take the place of
government policy. But, we're fulfill-
ing a need the government isn't
doing anything about," she says.
Referring to information from the
Canadian -Association of .Food
Banks, Spittal says there are 650
food banks across the country, 288
of which are in Ontario.
"Unfortunately, we're here and
here to stay unless something dras-
tic happens," she says.
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