Photo: Central Okanagan Food Bank

The Central Okanagan Food Bank has received a $20,000 donation from the Gardiner Family Foundation, in an effort to provide hunger relief for Kelowna and West Kelowna families.

More than 4,000 people seek food bank services every month so donations like these are crucial to ensure families get proper access.

“We are incredibly thankful for the support of the Gardiner Family Foundation,” said Tammie Watson, interim executive director. 

“Shauna Gardiner and the Gardiner Family Foundation’s support of our mission to end hunger in the community is truly admirable, and allows us to ensure local residents can gather around the table and  enjoy a meal together as a family – which is important for the health and wellbeing of every household, especially children and seniors."

“The ability to have healthy, nourishing food is a human right,” said Shauna Gardiner, co-founder of the
Gardiner Family Foundation.

“We feel it is incredibly important that those who have, help those who have less. There is more than enough food to go around in our community and we all need to be aware that so many families and young children are going hungry and don’t know where their next meal will come from."

The Central Okanagan Food Bank provides meal assistance to approximately 80 to 150 households everyday, with 33 per cent housing children under the age of 15. 

"The Central Okanagan Food Bank is not funded by the government, which came as a surprise to us, so it is up to all of us to chip in what we can to end hunger in our city," said Gardiner.

For more information or to donate, visit: www.cofoodbank.com