Press Release — Food Drive at Gagnon’s Your Independent Grocer April 8-28

Gagnon’s Your Independent Grocer hosting food drive April 8 to 28.

Bracebridge, April 1, 2011 – When you’re out shopping in April, remember to pick up a bag of groceries for your neighbors in need. From April 8 to the 28th Gagnon’s Your Independent Grocer will be selling paper grocery bags packed with non-perishable food that will be donated to the Manna Food Bank.

The bags of groceries will cost $15 each, and will contain items that are in high demand at the food bank, such as canned pasta and sauce, sugar, peanut butter, rice and fruit cups. Each bag will include a donation of $2 to go toward the purchase of fresh food like eggs and cheese.

YIGs staff and Manna volunteers help pack the groceries and will be on-hand to say hello and to thank you for your generosity. On Saturdays the OPP and the fire department plan to come out and lend their support, and local businesses like to come out and buy a bag or two as well.

“Everyone helps out,” said Guy Gagnon, owner of YIGs. “This is a true community effort.”

This is the third such food drive at Gagnon’s Your Independent Grocer. During the first, held in 2009, shoppers purchased and donated more than 1,500 bags, or five tonnes, of food, plus cash donations of $3,000. Last year saw a dip in purchases, with 600 bags sold. Organizers are hoping that this year will see that figure back up to over 1,000.

The Manna Food Bank is a volunteer-run charity founded more than two decades ago by a group of citizens concerned about helping their less-fortunate neighbors put food on the table. Last month the Manna Food Bank provided groceries to 637 people, 243 of them children. About a third of Manna’s clients are the working poor, caught in a perpetual struggle to make ends meet.

“Manna works because the entire community pitches in,” said president Carolyn Horne. “We are so grateful to the Gagnons, all the volunteers, and of course, Bracebridge shoppers for their ongoing support.”

For more information contact: 705.646.1412. Ask for Mar.