It is the first of what he hopes will be many more joint ventures, said Sawyer Hume, sponsorship co-ordinator for the Rangers.
left to right, Ashton-Smith, DeBruyn, Wilhelm, Hume
“It is an opportunity to score off the ice,” he said, recalling that fans donated $3,668 and 1,575 pounds of food at a game in December.
Pork board chairman John DeBruyn said it’s good collective community effort brining food producers and hockey together in a very Canadian way to support families facing food insecurity.
He noted that Ontario Pork has made enough donations for 1.1 million pork meals and Stephanie Ashton-Smith, director of development and donations for Feed Ontario thanked hog producers for donating $40t,000 per year to support more than 1,200 agencies providing food aid to more than 800,000 people across Ontario.
Kim Wilson, chief executive officer for the Waterloo Region Food Bank, said inventories have been drawn down and the agency needs donations to re-stock the distribution centre which serves about 120 places.
She said the local food bank is experiencing the highest demand ever with a 40 per cent increase in first-time clients last year when 6.8 million pounds of food was provided.