The NG Times Newspaper

The House of Lazarus (HOL) Food Bank raised $1,406 and 2,539.2 pounds of food during its 2018 Fill the Bus event.

“This year’s Fill the Bus event surpassed our expectations,” HOL client services manager Kim Merkley said. “This will help us help our food bank clients through the end of summer and into the school year. It will make a huge difference for our food bank and for the families who visit us.”

Sponsored by Rilla Seward-McShane of Kemptville’s Coldwell Banker Coburn Realty Brokerage, this year’s Fill the Bus event was held Friday, August 24. With the help of several Dundas Youth Centre members, HOL staff collected $703, which was then matched by Coldwell Banker.

The local youth collected non-perishable food items from generous shoppers at both Jonsson’s Your Independent Grocer and Walmart Kemptville Supercentre. They packed the items into two buses, which were donated by Lannin’s Buslines and Wubs Transit. The drivers, Barbara Levesque and Jeff Arcand, respectively, volunteered their time and driving skills. The total of items collected this year is almost double the 1,400 pounds collected in 2017.

“It’s the community support that makes this event so successful,” Kim Merkley said. “We had a sponsor matching dollars, two large Kemptville businesses allowing us access to their storefronts and customers, two separate bus lines donating the use of a bus, two drivers donating their time to drive those buses, nine members of the local youth group volunteering their time and energy to help collect and haul the donations, and, last but not least, the many generous shoppers who contributed money and or items to this food drive. We are truly blessed.”

House of Lazarus is a food bank and outreach mission located in Mountain, serving hundreds of clients from surrounding communities, including all of Dundas County, Grenville County and South Ottawa. Last year, 600 people were fed through HOL’s food bank, while 2,630 people were provided with food, clothing, furniture, and household goods through its outreach programming. A community-supported venture, House of Lazarus does not rely on government funding. It’s through HOL thrift stores, grants, donations, and fundraisers that its projects and programs happen.

For more information on this or other House of Lazarus projects, please visit www.houseoflazarus.com or follow the mission on Facebook.

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