By paNOW

Filling a bus, filling shelves and filling stomachs

Oct 14, 2017 | 2:23 PM

A school bus parked outside Wal-Mart was carrying a different kind of cargo, as hampers stuffed with food lined the seats.

The various items were sorted by a busy assembly line of University of Saskatchewan students and representatives from the Prince Albert Food Bank for the facilities annual fall food drive.

Taking a different approach this year, the food bank hosted a Fill the Bus campaign, a shift over the door-to-door collection events of years past, in association with 900 CKBI.

With the facility seeing a record August need, donations of any size were a warm welcome on a crisp autumn day for Janet Hauser.

“I think it is such an important thing to give back to your community,” the secretary of the Prince Albert Food Bank Board said. “Whatever we have been given, we have a responsibility to share. That is what motivates me.”

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Traffic was steady, according to Hauser, saying as of noon Saturday, residents had brought in over 700 pounds of food. By days end, nearly 6,000 pounds was collected.

Demand at the food bank is ever growing, she said, especially in the wake of Shellbrook’s food bank closing down and as the holiday season and cool weather creep in.

“I think we are cleared out of everything,” Hauser said, noting a need for personal goods like shampoo, soap and toothpaste too. “When people don’t have money for food they really don’t have money for much else.”

Besides being there for what Hauser called “emergency situations”, the food bank also works to educate people and cultivate food security options in the city.

“It is a very real need for a lot of people,” she added.

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr