Kipling holding second annual food drive
November 10, 2025, 2:26 pm
Nicole Taylor, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Kipling is holding its second town-wide Food Drive on Sunday, December 7.
After a successful event last year, despite some undesirable winter weather, the joint organizers from the Kipling Lions Club, Kipling Food Bank, and Kipling Fire Department are hoping that this year will be just as successful or even more successful.
“Last year was the Fire Department’s first year and it was very successful. After how good we did last year, the food bank asked us if we wanted to do it again, and we decided that we might as well keep it going,” said Fire Chief Ken Nordal.
“It will be an annual event now, so we ought to help out with it. One thing that really stuck with me last year was that, for every call and accident we go to with the Fire Department, not one person is smiling when we leave the Fire Hall, but when we help out with these events like the Food Drive, everyone is smiling and happy.
“This year we’re going door-to-door with the fire trucks, so people don’t have to come to us, especially after the blizzard we had during the food drive last year!” he said.
The Kipling Food bank has been providing the community and surrounding area with support since 2009.
“Last year’s food drive went very well, and we had a tremendous turnout,” said organizer Wayne Struble. “We probably ended up with about a five month supply of food for the food bank. We’re looking for hopefully the same thing or better this year for a few reasons. Our clientele is always getting larger it seems, so the need for food is out there. We’re seeing people come in from all walks of life.
“We serve a pretty wide area, as far north as Broadview, far east as Kennedy-Langbank, to the south we go to Arcola, and as far west as Montmarte. There’s a food bank in Carlyle and one in Moosomin, but that’s about it in the wider area. There’s also a few that they set up around Christmas time, but those are only limited time ones.”
Gloria Struble with the Kipling Food Bank, says that people who go all the way to Regina for food are often referred to local food banks like Kipling’s.
“They are kind of getting overwhelmed with people at the ones in the cities, so now we’re getting people that are being told to come here instead of the city food banks,” she said.
Struble noted that having three different organizations join forces for the food drive has been a tremendous help.
“As far as volunteer help goes, it’s been super smooth. From the Food Drive itself, to getting the food to the Food Bank, getting it organized and on the shelves, it’s been a really great experience,” she said.
“It takes a lot of volunteer help. Before the drive we put out some mail and put up signs all around town to let people know when it’s happening. On the day of the Food Drive we go door-to-door and collect whatever food we can, and load it into our trucks or trailers. Last year we didn’t knock on doors, and the Fire Department felt that some people may have missed it because they didn’t hear or see the trucks, so we’re trying to mitigate that this year.
“The Food Bank would also like to let people know that just because we knock on your door, giving is completely voluntary, you don’t have to for any reason or another, and it’s all right if you are unable to,” said Struble.
The Kipling Lions Club provided many volunteers for the event as well, and it was one of their members that first brought forward the idea of starting a food drive in Kipling last year.
“The Food Drive really got started with a member of the Lions Club that spends the winter in Osoyoos, B.C., and there are communities out there that have been doing this for a number of years. So that’s where the idea came from. He brought it back here and presented it to a few organizations in town and our first run was last year. We were ecstatic with how last year’s event went,” said Dan Manns with the Kipling Lions Club.
“We wound up with more donations than I think any of us expected. The Food Bank has said that they were stocked up with food through June, so it went amazingly well. As for the Lions Club, this fits right in with our mission. We are always looking for new and interesting ways that we can give back to the community and serve the town. That doesn’t always mean just writing a cheque and calling it a day, we love to get our boots on the ground and do some real work for the community.
“The cohesiveness was amazing, everybody took their job and ran with it. Mike Warner deserves a lot of credit for putting this all together and co-ordinating everybody. It’s not an easy job but he sure makes it look easy.”
He says that the amount of volunteers was something that he is very proud of.
“Last year we had a one hundred percent response from the Fire Department, so every firefighter in town volunteered. We had four fire trucks throughout the community, and each truck had about 12 people attached to it, and then Santa was downtown and he had four or five people with him as well. We didn’t get a lot of turnout from neighboring communities because of the snow and how terrible the highways were that day, so that’s something we hope is different this year.”
