New Westminster just missed out on top spot in the Mayors’ Food Bank Challenge.
Nine Lower Mainland mayors took part in the month-long challenge to raise the most money per capita for their city or district, in support of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, SHARE Family and Community Services, Salvation Army Chilliwack Food Bank and Sources White Rock/South Surrey Food Bank. All totalled, the event raised $313,728.
Led by Mayor Linda Buchanan, the City of North Vancouver was the winner of this year’s challenge, raising $55,840, which is $0.9608 raised per capita.
The City of New Westminster raised a total of $75,632.62, which works out to $0.9584 per capita.
“I’m so pleased to see the community of New Westminster step up once again in support of the Mayor’s Food Bank Challenge,” said Mayor Jonathan Cote. “We are a small community, but one that comes together to support those in need.”
The Greater Vancouver Food Bank, which feeds more than 11,000 people each month in New Westminster, Burnaby, Vancouver and the North Shore, said food banks generally have a higher buying power than the general public. As an example, it states that it would be able to buy 653,600 lbs of apples or 184,546 litres of milk with the money raised through this year’s challenge.
“We can all agree that no one in our community should go to bed hungry,” Buchanan said in a news release. “But the challenges of the past two years, between the pandemic and high rates of inflation, mean that people are being stretched further financially than ever before. … Thank you to everyone who participated, donated, and contributed to a more caring community.”
