The Smithers Community Services Association (SCSA) Food Security Coordinator Christine Bruce has been leading the charge in changing minds about food programs in the Bulkley Valley. This past Spring to Fall, she managed the SCSA table at the Bulkley Valley Farmers Market with a program called Everybody Eats, showcasing “ugly vegetables” and healthy, local, options for easy recipes.
This past holiday season, Bruce, along with her Holiday Hamper Coordinator Emily Baker used the same ingenuity to create more thoughtful food hampers with variety to suit the needs of those who use the program. The options were “mostly non perishable”, “gift cards only”, and “mostly fresh”, a much-needed update from the typical collection of non-perishable items seen in food baskets.
This year, they had an increase in sponsored hampers by 10%, and 20+ bins of brand-new toys to include for families with young children, $44K in financial donations, and nearly half of their hamper users chose the “mostly fresh” hamper, demonstrating that there is a growing need for healthy, local food hampers in the Bulkley Valley.
