Sophie Kuijper Dickson, LJI Journalist

Campbell’s Bay-based food bank Bouffe Pontiac received two significant donations from community groups last week.

The first came from the Oktoberfest organizing committee, which donated 350 pounds of leftover food from the previous weekend’s celebrations, including some German sausage.

“We were low on meat this week and these came at the perfect time,” said Kim Laroche, director of Bouffe Pontiac.

She said the food bank usually receives food donations that range between five and 50 pounds, so 350 pounds was a big leg up.

The second donation, this one monetary, came from Le Jardin Éducatif du Pontiac, which raised $2,000 for the food bank at its 35th anniversary community barbecue held in August.

“All the food that was sold that day that was made by the youth and some adults, all the money that we raised from that, we decided to give as a donation to the food bank,” said Martin Riopel, director of Jardin Éducatif.

Jardin Éducatif is a non-profit organization that runs vegetable farming programs for at-risk youth as a way to teach them critical life skills. This summer it hired 23 youth to work at the Campbell’s Bay based vegetable farm.

Part of their work included using the kitchen at Bouffe Pontiac to transform the vegetables they were growing into meals that could be given to the people who use the food bank.

Laroche said $2,000 is enough money to supply four one-person families with milk, eggs, bread and meat, or those same staples to a single four-person family for an entire year.

“As a director, it means a lot,” Laroche said. “It reinforces the importance of community support. It’s also a reminder that we are not alone in this fight against hunger.”