Hagersville Food Bank shares $144,500 from its proceeds
HAGERSVILLE—The Hagersville Food Bank, recipients of $869,260.77 following the runaway success of Hagersville’s Catch the Ace competition, is paying its good fortunes forward, donating portions of their massive windfall to other Haldimand-based food banks.
“The Hagersville Food Bank has been blessed in so many ways since its beginnings in 2012. We have had some amazing volunteers devote countless hours to our success, and we have had strong relationships with our local schools, churches, and businesses. The largest blessing and our biggest asset has been the community of Hagersville,” read a press release from the Food Bank. “Without their unwavering support for those less fortunate among us, our efforts would be significantly more difficult.”
The release said that their recent good fortune, which they credited to the Hagersville Lions and Hagersville Rocks committee’s Catch the Ace lottery, has left them with a chance to “significantly enhance our mandate of providing food to those in need,” and leading them to search for a way to make the biggest impact they could on their community.
On Tuesday, May 23, representatives from the food banks of Cayuga, Caledonia, Dunnville, Six Nations, and Jarvis all gathered at the Hagersville location, where they were each presented with cheques for $20,000 to contribute to their efforts.
“We felt that sharing our good fortune in Haldimand was of benefit to a lot of people,” said the release.
The Food Bank is also providing a donation of $44,500 to the Child Nutrition Network administered by Haldimand Norfolk REACH, to increase the existing school snack programs in Hagersville Elementary, North Walpole and St. Mary’s Catholic schools to five days a week.
“By doing this, we hope to ensure nutrition and healthy learning for the children of our area,” said the release, which also noted that they are working with Mississaugas of the Credit-based Lloyd S King School on enhancing their school snack program as well.
“We continue to look for other initiatives in our area… We are also beginning the search for larger premises that have space for a certified kitchen to allow us to expand our programs to benefit the community. We are also beginning the search for paid staff. Our volunteers have done an amazing job, but the hours committed can be long and volunteer burn out is becoming an issue.”
The release concluded, “With the economic conditions we are all experiencing; the services we provide are needed by more of our community residents that ever. The cost of food has increased our costs as well, to the point that our monthly grocery bill is surpassing $13,000. Though this windfall has ensured our security, we continue to need local support more than ever through donations and volunteers. Your ongoing support of our work is appreciated more than we can possibly express here. Thank you.”
