A good day for a cause
Wednesday, October 17, 2012 by: Darren Taylor
Employees of Pino’s Get Fresh and Casino Sault Ste. Marie delivered much-needed supplies of non-perishable food items to the good people at Vincent Place on Albert Street East Tuesday.
St. Vincent Place Food Bank General Manager Nat Cicchelli told Soo Today, “thanks to these donations of food, today’s donation will help out a lot of families, especially these days, the way the economy is.”
"We average about 40 groups that come in on Wednesdays and Saturdays to get food from our food bank, so with a thousand cans like we received today, you’re looking at probably more than a thousand dollars worth of products that we would have had to go out and buy, and thanks to this generous donation we’re able to give more to our clients.”
That's about a month's worth of supplies that the food bank distributes.
Also on Wednesdays and Saturdays it provides a hot meal, and canned foods from the Food Bank.
Meals are served at Vincent Place every Wednesday from 5 - 6 p.m., and from 6 - 8 p.m. supplies from the Food Bank are available.
Meals are also served on Saturdays from 12 - 1 p.m., and the Food Bank is available to clients from 1 - 3 p.m.
Cicchelli told Soo Today, “you can’t underestimate the need.”
There are a lot of people who are struggling, and many of these are the working poor, he said.
“There are families, in which both father and mother are working, but they just cannot make ends meet, and they have to utilize our soup kitchen and our Food Bank on a monthly basis.”
“Our numbers have grown in the last couple of months,” Cicchelli said. “We’re averaging about 180 people for dinners, and we’re averaging between 40 and 50 groups for the Food Bank on those particular days, Wednesdays and Saturdays.”
Casino Sault Ste. Marie General Manager Valerie Braun told Soo Today, “this is our third year that we’ve done something with the Food Bank, and our second year in a row we’ve partnered with Pino’s to donate in the fall to the Food Bank.”
Volunteers from Casino Sault Ste. Marie made a delivery of 60 reusable bags of non-perishable food items to the St. Vincent Food Bank, from the “Lett’uce Fill Your Fridge” promotion by OLG Casino Sault Ste. Marie in September.
“We open it up to our employees, we have a community involvement team, a group of employees who do things for the community,” Braun said. “This year we had a community garden in the summer. We grew over 400 pounds of vegetables, which we have also donated here.”
Fall is a slow time for Vincent Place, they tend to have a lower number of items on their shelves, and going into winter people can really use the help, so we try to do this every fall, she said.
The full text of a media release from OLG Casino Sault Ste. Marie follows.
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Casino Sault Ste. Marie patrons to St. Vincent Place Food Bank: Lett'uce fill your fridge" and your cupboards
SAULT STE. MARIE, ON – Just in time for the fall harvest, the generosity of OLG Casino Sault Ste. Marie patrons and staff and Pino’s Get Fresh has come to the aid of a local food bank.
Yesterday, volunteers from the casino’s Community Involvement Team made a delivery of 60 reusable bags full of non-perishable food items to St. Vincent Place Food Bank, re-stocking the shelves.
The items were donated during the “Lett’uce Fill Your Fridge” promotion by OLG Casino Sault Ste. Marie patrons and staff throughout the month of September.
“We’re thrilled that our patrons and staff were so willing to make a food donation as part of the ‘Lett’uce Fill Your Fridge’ promotion,” said Val Braun, General Manager of OLG casino Sault Ste. Marie. “And we’re so thankful to have such a strong community partner in Pino’s Get Fresh, who not only provided prizing for our promotion, but believe just as strongly as we do in supporting local charities.”
The local grocer also participated by contributing three shopping carts full of necessities.
“It’s incredible to see just how much support exists in this community for those in need,” said Patrick Bingham, Assistant Manager of Pino’s Get Fresh. “By doing something as simple as dropping off a canned good, you can help to make sure that the St. Vincent Place Food Bank is able to continue supporting residents in Sault Ste. Marie who might not otherwise know where their next meal is coming from.”
“OLG Casino Sault Ste. Marie and its staff have been great supporters of St Vincent Place throughout the year with numerous campaigns to assist our community clients,” said Nat Cicchelli, General Manager of St. Vincent Place. “In 2011 St Vincent place served 12,000 prepared meals from the soup kitchen, provided 3,500 families with food packages and 500 men with accommodations and we are already on course to surpass those numbers in 2012. Without the support of our volunteers and organizations like OLG, we could not assist our community clients that are in need.”
Following the success of the “Lett’uce Fill Your Fridge” promotion in 2011, the casino’s Community Involvement Team thought about what else could be done at the site to help St. Vincent Place Food Bank.
This year, staff planted and maintained a vegetable garden and donated over 400 pounds of fresh produce to go along with the non-perishable items and helping to make nutritious meals for the clients of the food bank.
OLG is a provincial agency responsible for province-wide lottery games and gaming facilities.
Since 1975, OLG lotteries, bingos, casinos, slots, and resort casinos have generated more than $36 billion for the benefit of the Province of Ontario.
Gaming proceeds support Ontario's hospitals, amateur sport, recreational and cultural activities, communities, provincial priority programs such as health care and education, and local and provincial charities and non-profit organizations through the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
Know your limit, play within it!
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madmaymax 10/17/2012 1:20:54 PM ReportWHAT A WONDERFUL DONATION OF FOODD, I ONLY HOPE THAT NONE OF IT WAS EXPIRED AS IT WOULD PUT A DAMPPER ON THE DONATION:)IF YOU CALL THE 1-8OO NUMBER ON THE PRODUCT THE COMPANY WILL TELL THAT THE BEST BEFORE DATE IS THERE FOR A REASON, THE SHELF LIFE OF THIS PRODUCT HAS EXPIRED AND UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD BE CONSUMED!! SO EVERYONE IF YOU DONATE FOOD PLEASE MAKE SURE IT IS NOT PASSED THAT EXPIRY DATE:):):) ADULTS AND ESPECIALLY LITTLE COULD GET SICK AND IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE THIS CONTACT THE SOUP ETC COMPANY AND HEAR IT FROM THE COMPANY THAT PUTS OUT THAT PRODUCT,DO NOT EAT EXPIRED FOOD, CANNED OR NOT,HAVE A BLESSED DAY:):)
madmaymax 10/17/2012 4:00:28 PM ReportShelf life is the length of time that foods, beverages, pharmaceutical drugs, chemicals, and many other perishable items are given before they are considered unsuitable for sale, use, or consumption. In some regions, a best before, use by or freshness date is required on packaged perishable foods.
