Many families have a hard time putting enough food on the table throughout the year and the holidays are no exception, with thousands of people depending on local food banks for assistance.
College of the North Atlantic (CNA) is once again supporting the CBC’s Turkeys for Christmas Drive with campuses serving as collection points. Members of the public, as well as faculty, students and staff at all 17 CNA campuses throughout the province are encouraged to participate by dropping off a frozen turkey or making a monetary contribution. Each $25 donation represents one turkey. Last year, over 9,020 turkeys were collected and distributed to families throughout this province – 502 of those were donated from CNA.
Now in its 10th year, this fundraiser for the Community Food Sharing Association and local food banks has become a holiday tradition. The college has established a website to follow the donation totals as the fundraiser advances.
Eg Walters, general manager of the Community Food Sharing Association, says there are just less than 27,000 individuals in this province who turn to the food bank on a regular basis, with 38 per cent of that number being children under the age of 18. He says people have already started registering for the Christmas hampers and based on those numbers, he expects the demand to increase this year.
“It is critical that food banks across the province get support this time of year so they can help people through a difficult time,” said Walters.
“It’s unfortunate that in a country as prosperous as Canada that we do have food banks but we’ve had food banks for many years and their prime function is to help mom, pop and the kids to put food on the table, not only at Christmas time but the other 51 weeks of the year. The people who use food banks are no different than you or I, and I take my hat off to all those at the campuses of CNA for becoming involved in this very important venture throughout the whole of Newfoundland and Labrador.”
The turkeys collected in each area stay within those communities to help those less fortunate. The turkey drive will run from Tuesday, Dec. 2 until Tuesday, Dec. 23 in support of local food banks.
For more information about the CBC Turkeys for Christmas Drive, visit the CBC website at www.cbc.ca/nl. To watch CNA’s progress in the drive, visit the Turkey Tally at http://www.cna.nl.ca/events/Turkey-Drive.aspx. You can also follow CBC Newfoundland and Labrador’s Twitter account for the turkey drive, @nlturkey or CNA’s account, @CNA_News for updates throughout the drive.
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Media Contact:
Roger Hulan
Communincations Specialist
College of the North Atlantic
(709) 643-7938
roger.hulan@cna.nl.ca