Kipling to hold first food drive
Fire department, Lions, food bank organizing event
November 19, 2024, 11:23 am
Ryan Kiedrowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Members of the Kipling Fire Department, the Kipling Lion’s Club, and the Kipling Food Bank were busy last week, preparing for their inaugural food drive coming up on Dec. 8. The groups met at the fire hall, constructing signage for the food drive, and meeting with members of the media to speak about the event.
During the afternoon before Kipling’s annual Parade of Lights, volunteers will be making their way around town to collect donations from residents. In a way to attract more attention, equipment from the fire department will also be collecting food around the streets of Kipling.
“So we’re going to go all through town, we will have a drop off point uptown as well, just beside the library,” explained Dan Manns, Kipling Lions Club president. “We’re going to have Santa sitting with the trailer to collect food there as well, and then following the food drive, everything will be taken directly to the professional building where the food bank is set up.”
Organizers are anticipating the food drive to become an annual event, held the same afternoon as the parade in future years as well.
“Heading into Christmas is the food bank’s busiest time of year, and with the cost of living crisis that we’re going through right now, there’s going to be more and more people looking for help,” said Manns. “I’m hoping that we collect enough to carry us through the season and right into the New Year.”
The idea to involve the three groups came from another Lion’s club member after seeing similar drives in other places.
“That was Mike Warner’s idea, he’s had a desire to do something to help the food bank,” Manns said. “He sparked the whole idea, he’s organized the whole thing, and he’s done a wonderful job in bringing the different organizations together. We couldn’t have done this as a Lion’s group—we just don’t have the manpower to do it—so by partnering with the food bank and the fire department, we’re able to pull it off.”
Warner noticed how much attention food drives in the Okanagan region received, and thought the Kipling area could replicate a similar event.
“I approached the Lion’s with the idea that, ‘hey, if we can partner up, we can do a big job with a lot less work, they get some focus in the community’,” he said. “And we do think that we might hit a demographic in town that there’s not the availability to donate.”
Having the drive on the same day as the Parade of Lights will be an extra draw given all the people from surrounding areas that come to Kipling for the popular event.
“Two years ago they moved the light parade to a Sunday, and last year it was phenomenal,” remembers Warner. “I was in the parade with an old tractor that I have. I’ve lived here since 1974, and I’ve never seen as many people on Main Street for any function. It was literally packed for two blocks, and that was great to see. Now we’ll have our donation trailer sitting at the corner.”
Parade organizers also see the food drive as a way to attract people to their event as well, creating a scenario that ultimately benefits Kipling greatly.
“People organizing the parade think we’ll help them and we think that they’ll help us,” Warner said. “We’re blitzing the town of Kipling, but last year I saw lots of surrounding townspeople come for the parade and they can sit in their cars and watch the parade even if it’s cold.”
He added that everyone is welcome to help collect donations of non-perishable food items and financial contributions.
“We want to try and get all the ages involved, so we want some children to walk with us and we want adults that want to come out,” he said. “Absolutely anybody that wants to come is welcome to come and walk along the streets.”
Partnership an easy fit
The crew at the Kipling Fire Department are always willing to help the community out, and this project was no different. Fire Chief Ken Nordal said he didn’t hesitate when Warner asked if his firefighters would like to team up.
“When Michael approached me about it, right away, as soon as he said that it’s for the food bank, I was 110 per cent on board, because we go out and we deal with emergencies,” he said. “When we’re dealing with a house fire, farm fire, a tractor fire or an accident, there’s always a loss of some description, and when you can get firefighters involved in doing something that’s not dealing with a total emergency or a catastrophe, it’s a good feeling.”
Nordal also pointed out that in a small community, quite often first responders attend to emergencies involving friends and even family members, with those events affecting firefighters substantially. He also noted that the timing of the food drive is intended to help fill the gap through winter.
“Having it a little bit before Christmas, you’ve still got some of that spare cash that people haven’t spent yet,” he said. “And if they donate a little bit more food, maybe it’ll carry us it through till into, say, February or March. Then at that point, people will have their cash flow back in order.”
Need has never been greater
Use of food banks across the nation is on a rapid increase and rural areas are not immune. According to Food Banks Canada’s HungerCount 2024, there were more than two million visits to 2,589 food banks across Canada during the month of March alone—up six per cent from 2023, and a staggering 90 per cent increase when compared with 2019 statistics. Of those two million visits, 33 per cent were children, 23 per cent were two-parent families, 18 per cent of clients reported as being employed (the highest proportion ever), and one in 10 were pensioners.
“Some of the months are busier than others,” said Marge Bates, a volunteer with the Kipling Food Bank. “Summer is generally busier, and at Christmas we find—more the holidays.”
The Kipling Food Bank in particular serves a very large area, drawing people from surrounding communities including Kennedy, Windthorst, Corning, Glenavon, Montmartre, Whitewood, and Broadview. Bates noted that nobody is ever turned away, all people need to bring is their health services card.
“Then they get either a single hamper or a family hamper, depending on the number and their household,” she explained.
The local food bank began in 2009 after a need was identified in the area, and is currently open twice a month. Bates noted there are approximately 10 volunteers who donate their time to the cause, which is well-supported in Kipling. Local businesses donate items to the local food bank, which has also noted a significant increase. When the Kipling Food Bank was first established in 2009, 11 hampers were regularly distributed. In 2023, that number has grown to 213 hampers.
“I have been told that our food bank is providing for far more than our immediate area,” said Mayor of Kipling, Pat Jackson. “There are people coming from quite a distance. We’ve got so many people in need, and so many people where the month lasts much farther than the money.”
Jackson herself is a long-time Lions’ member, lending a hand to the sign building effort on Nov. 1.
“Any time you can have organizations of any description working together on something, that’s good,” she said. “It’s a win for the community because more people get involved and more people become aware of what’s going on. We can always do more together than we can separately.”
The food drive will take place on Dec. 8 from 2-4 pm, accepting donations of cash, non-perishable food items, and Co-op gift cards. Kipling residents can watch for a fire truck on their street that day, or can drop off donations at the Kipling Library corner.
