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We’re making plans for the summer, too

June 2009

Now that the nice warm weather is upon us, people are making their plans for the summer. Whether planting flowers, working around the yard or taking a trip with the family, everyone wants to make the most of this season. Sun Youth is also planning ahead for the summer.

For the second year in a row, Sun Youth will embark on a summer food drive in order to cope with the increase in demand for the emergency food bank. In 2008, even before there were talks about recession and financial slowdown, our organization was making an urgent appeal to the public and to companies to receive non-perishable food donations to replenish our almost empty warehouse shelves. The increase in basic food prices and the high cost of gas have both augmented the number of people asking for our food bank services and decreased the quantity of food items received as donations. Thus, we saw a 13-per-cent increase in demand and a 30-per cent decrease in donations last summer.

Now that our country is officially in a recession, more and more people are knocking at our doors for emergency assistance. At this moment, Sun Youth provides emergency food assistance to over 2,500 families a month. This represents an increase of 24 per cent over last year. Despite the amazing generosity that the public and companies showed during the last holiday period, these resources won’t be sufficient to assist all of the underprivileged families requesting our services this summer. In that spirit, we urge Senior Times readers to contribute to our emergency summer food drive. Donations can be dropped off directly at Sun Youth headquarters at 4251 St. Urbain. Pickups can also be done for large donations collected at organized food drives. Companies such as food distributors are also encouraged to donate to our food bank, and pickups can be arranged.

Although this latest emergency food drive has just been launched, some companies and foundations have already answered our cry for help. On May 28, Sun Youth received a very generous donation from the RBC Foundation. Tommy Kulczyk, Assistant to the Executive Vice-President and Director of Emergency Services at Sun Youth received a cheque of $10,000 from Richard Légaré, vice-president for the Montreal-centre region at RBC Royal Bank. This amount will be used to purchase perishable food to include in the food hampers given to our clientele.

Bell employees also contributed over $5,000 to this summer’s food drive by giving funds to purchase milk and eggs.

Sun Youth would like to thank everyone who has already contributed as well as those who will support us this summer. For more information on how to contribute to Sun Youth, call us at 514-842-6822 or visit us online at www.sunyouthorg.com

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