The collected food donations at the Prince George Native Friendship Centre

By Tommy Osborne

Food Drive

Prince George Native Friendship Centre brings back food hamper campaign amidst cost-of-living crisis

Dec 11, 2023 | 4:55 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – The Prince George Native Friendship Centre brought back its annual food hamper campaign. Running for more than 25 years, this campaign has the centre buy groceries to provide 150-200 food hampers for anyone who signs up.

The Centre’s Director of Health Brandi Mcaulay explained this year has seen even more demand for the hampers, as the rising costs of groceries and living has hit everyone. In just one week after announcing the campaign the Centre filled its waitlist for applications.

“Food disparity is the biggest need that we’re witnessing. We have more and more people that are coming in looking for healthy, nourishing food. Everybody is feeling it, even households that have two people working are struggling to put food on the table. So we’re just trying to do what we can to to give back to those that need it the most,” she said.

While the Centre does have a food bank, it isn’t an official food bank, as the Salvation Army is the community’s food bank and Mcaulay explained a community can only have one official food bank. Because of this, monetary donations are the best way to support the Centre, although any food donations are greatly appreciated too.

“What we do is we go out and we purchase the food that we put in our hampers. I mean, just this morning I bought 50 cans of pineapple.”

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Because the Centre is locate downtown, it can also be easier to access for some people compared to the Salvation Army, so Mcaulay added any help given to the centre could potentially help a new group of people. Saying that the Salvation Army is also “tapped out” due to the intense demand, any support given to the Salvation Army or the centre would be a tremendous help to those who need it.

Beyond the Christmas hampers the Centre provides services year round, and If you would like to support its efforts you can donate via cash, cheque, visa, or debit.