Salmon for the food banks

Photo: Dustin Godfrey

A local labour group was at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre Tuesday afternoon preparing cans of salmon to give to the region's food banks.

For its second year, the South Okanagan Boundary Labour Council is donating 60 cases of salmon to the Penticton food bank, 50 to the Summerland food bank and 15 each to the Osoyoos and Oliver food banks.

"The cases are 24 and they're 200 gram tins, so they're much larger than what you get at the grocery store," said the labour council's acting president Greg McGowan adding they were able to purchase the cans at cost.

"One of the reasons we do it this time of year is protein is always hard to get for food banks, and salmon is good protein."

The cans donated to Penticton will be going into Christmas hampers set up by the Salvation Army, and McGowan says the initiative is, in part, to let people know that the unions aren't only about labour issues.

"People think of the unions as people always going on strike or things like ... walkouts, but this is us giving back to our community. It's important for us to do that, and we take great pride in helping this time of year."

Miriam Leslie with the Salvation Army said donations like the labour council's salmon packages for their Christmas Hampers are huge for them.

"It's a wonderful donation, and because it's a source of protein, that is so great. It's nutritious, something people will really enjoy, it's a great treat at Christmas."