The holiday season is typically a time when there is an increase in need for those on the lower end of the income scale, particularly after Christmas when people are stretched to the limit trying to juggle their every day needs while also providing gifts for those they care about. If they can.
In such times, food insecurity increases exponentially, and with that in mind, the board members of the Very Useful Theatre Company, a registered charity based in Newmarket dedicated to enabling theatre arts / stage opportunities as well as helping worthy local causes, and which hosts the Newmarket International Festival of One Act Plays, wanted to get a cheque into the hands of the local food bank at its time of most need.
“ The board wanted to make sure we got his to you during the holiday season” V.U.T.C. President Tom Pearson said while handing over a cheque for $650, funds raised at the 2022 N.I.F.O.A.P., to long time Newmarket Food Pantry Volunteer Coordinator, Liz Blight.
Said Liz,“ We really appreciate you thinking of us when you do your fundraising. Thank-you so much.”
“Thank you Liz, we are very grateful for all you guys do for the community”, replied Mr. Pearson,
The Newmarket Food Pantry has evolved in the time that it’s moved from its Main St. digs in 2016 to the present location on Gorham St., including expanding delivery service during Covid 19 epidemic period, creating a more user friendly drop-in shopping-like experience, adding fresh produce and dairy to the mix, a new kitchen with ovens to be used to teach cooking, as well as they recently added the community fridge located outside the Newmarket Public library to their list of food insecurity sources. And of course every Wednesday a bevy of volunteers gather do go about the long and tedious job of sorting through the hundreds of ponds of bins and boxes of donations. Inflation and other out-of-our-control factors also collided during this time which has resulted in a record number of people using food banks in Canada, a factor that lead the V.U.T.C. board to unanimously choose the Newmarket Food Pantry as its cause recipient of the 2022 NIFOAP. See Video.
