Three highly successful food drives conducted in Niverville during the month of October have ensured that Helping Hands will have full hampers this winter for the needy in Niverville, New Bothwell, Otterburne, and Ste Agathe.
Volunteer Program Coordinator Christina Adolade will be leaving her post after three years of service, and she is leaving Helping Hands fully stocked thanks to Farm Credit Corporation’s Drive Away Hunger Campaign 2016, which netted 2,400 pounds of food and $400 worth of Co-op gift cards. Helping Hands’ fall food drive saw 4,009 items collected, including $260 in cash donations. Niverville Volunteer Firefighters also held a ‘Tin for the Bin’ campaign during their recent open house and collected $600 cash which they chose to donate to Helping Hands.
At Helping Hands, a dynamic team of 15 hard-working volunteers take turns preparing food hampers every second Thursday. Clients phone in their request to Helping Hands’ cell phone number (204-392-5699), and those messages are retrieved and responded to with few questions asked.
Regrettably, two longtime volunteers, Alvera Hiebert (volunteer coordinator) and Len McKelvey (past co-chair), will also be leaving the program, creating a vital need for replacements.
Watch for posters with Christmas hamper request details and for strategically placed boxes for the 2016 toy drive. Churches will be invited to donate baked goodies that will be wrapped and frozen for festive meals; purchases of fresh items such as meat and bread are the norm. Gifts will be wrapped, Christmas cards prepared, and volunteer drivers contacted. The Christmas drive will be accomplished in a well-coordinated bustle of good will and hard work.
Helping Hands is approaching its thirtieth year and has flourished due to the dedication of many volunteers. Several years ago, a gaily painted food bin was built and donated by a local craftsman, Andrew MacFarlane, and is still used by organizations to invite their members to contribute food items. Monetary donations are essential and appreciated to meet the costs of running such an operation (costs include cell phone services, printing vouchers and posters, meat purchases, etc). The most expensive cost is insurance, approximately $900.
Helping Hands works in close cooperation with other food banks, especially Southeast Food Bank in Steinbach. Bothwell Cheese generously donates hundreds of pounds of cheese to that location and Niverville picks up 50 pounds at a time to be cut up and vacuum-packed for distribution. Excess food is shared among food banks.
Resources get drained over the summer months when the Niverville food bank assists additional clients from Île-des-Chênes, whose own food bank closes for the summer.
Helping Hands welcomes corporate and church support in the form of reduced prices for products, donated space (Niverville Community Fellowship Church), sponsorships, and toy drive activities. The Niverville Credit Union offers space for board meetings as needed, and it’s also the location of the massive gift-wrap undertaking at Christmas. In the past, volunteer firefighters have delivered the hampers, and they will probably be called upon again this year.
Please call Helping Hands if you wish to participate in Christmas hamper preparations. A larger number of hands are required for this annual task. Volunteer opportunities on the board of directors will shortly open up and regular volunteers are welcome every second Thursday afternoon.
