It all started with one hungry family.
St. Andrews resident Holly Johnson is helping to organize a Food Bank that would serve the town, as well as outlying communities, such as Waweig, Chamcook, Bocabec, and Bayside.
She tells us, she had heard of a local family that was going through a difficult time. “Not wanting to jump the gun, I approached the family directly, and asked if this was the case because I heard that they had been running very low on food, and I was obviously very concerned about it. As it turns out, yes, that was the case.”
She says from there, she started a private Facebook group, adding about twenty people, and asking them if they would be able to help the family. After that, the donations started pouring in. She tells us, “There’s nothing worse than being hungry, and this family was going hungry. This mom was losing weight, she was going hungry. And to think that in a community as affluent as ours, in a country as affluent as ours, this should not be happening.”
Johnson says since then, volunteers have been helping the family on a weekly basis, and even were able to pay off their large power bill from the winter.
Now, they want to help other families who are in need, and are reaching out to the community in order to create a food bank.
A meeting will be held at the St. Andrews Catholic Church on Monday night, April 18th, beginning at 7pm, in order to collect ideas on forming a Food Bank.
For updates, or if you would like to get involved, check out the St. Andrews Food Bank Facebook page.
