Cold Lake Food Bank raising funds through walk as need continues to soar

As the Cold Lake Food Bank gets busier and busier, they are starting a new initiative to gather the community.

The Coldest Night of the Year is am nationwide large initiative on February 24th that the Cold Lake Food Bank has joined forces with to raise funds.

Families can register online or meet up on Saturday evening for a fun, low-pressure, family walk of two or five kilometres.

Some of those in the walk are raising money, and already $8000 will be going to the Food Bank.

“It’s free to come out. People are welcome to fundraise, of course. But there’s no cost. There’ll be hot beverages and it’s just for people to come out,” said executive director Nic Caron-Lavoie. 

“This time of year is tends to be a slow point for us so we thought about hosting something.” 

The year 2023 was the busiest on record for the Cold Lake Food Bank, with over 900 more hampers alone handed out than 2022.

“We gave out 6186 hampers throughout the year and that went up to 1444 unique households. There’s a lot of people in the Cold Lake area that are utilizing the food bank,” she said. 

“Last year was definitely the busiest year, and it seems like so far this year, it’s hasn’t slowed down too much.

“Lots of people are feeling the higher cost of living, the higher cost of food, and we have lots of new people coming in. And lots of people that are working and have kids and just can’t quite make the bills meet, and it’s an unfortunate thing to see in our community.” 

The event across Canada is used to raise money for the vulnerable, as various areas are all experiencing increasing hunger or homelessness.

The issue is becoming more pronounced in the Lakeland region.

So far, 120 people are signed up online here.

But you don’t need to go online. You can register at the Cold Lake Food Bank once the clock strikes 4:00pm for check-in, before the walk begins at 5:00pm.

As always, the Food Bank is accepting food donations with bins at No Frills and Sobey’s, and monetary donations on-site or through the website.

“I think it’s harder times for everyone. But it’s been an amazing thing to see how the community is still donated and we’re still seeing people come together for the community.”