Elliot Lake Emergency Food Bank

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.
Matthew 25:35

Eggs Carton Collection

The Foodbank is now sourcing eggs by purchasing flats of eggs, which is great, but they need our assistance in obtaining individual egg cartons. We are asking if you can please save your egg cartons and that way the cartons get REUSED, and the Foodbank gets cartons for eggs. It’s a WIN WIN!

The egg cartons can be dropped off at the Food bank on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10:00 am - 12 noon and 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm. The new location of the Foodbank is the former Sears/Rona Appliance store at 20 Columbia Walk.

MOST NEEDED FOOD ITEMS

Peanut butter (all sizes)
Dry pasta
Spaghetti sauce
Tomatoes (28 oz. cans)
Pasta sauces
Canned fruits (i.e. peaches, pears, fruit cocktail)

Canned tuna, salmon and ham

Canned soups (tomato, vegetable, mushroom, chicken noodle)
Breakfast cereals
Jam
Boxed macaroni & cheese
Apple juice

Who We Are

The Elliot Lake Emergency Food Bank Inc. (ELEFB) is comprised of six churches and Elliot Lake community members.

St. Peter the Apostle
Paroisse Ste. Marie
First Baptist
New Life Pentecostal
Our Lady of Fatima
Holy Trinity United Church (HTU)

Each of the churches commit to supplying volunteers to work at the ELEFB throughout the year.

The Board of Directors and Coordinators meet on the second Tuesday of each month (except July and August) at 6:30 p.m. in the Alpha Room of Holy Trinity. Everyone is welcome to attend all the meetings.

As a supporting member, HTU staffs the Food Bank every six weeks. HTU is continually looking for more volunteers to assist the small number of members helping fill client requests. At times it has been necessary to look outside the church to meet the staffing needs. Should you wish to help, or know of anyone in the community looking for volunteer work, please contact Roger West, HTU Director.

The dates for HTU are posted on the What's New section of the Home Page.

Food bank hours are 10 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. each of the days (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). Volunteers are asked to be there about 15 minutes before each shift.

How We Obtain Food Supplies

The annual Radiothon hosted by the Moose FM in early October
The annual food drive on the first Saturday of December and organized by the local Fire Department
A summer charity BBQ thanks to Soo Mill
Generous community donations (both food and financial)
Government and Corporate grants that are applied for on a regular basis
Supplies received through Feed Ontario. The cost of being a member of Feed Ontario is the expense of a computer and internet (approximately $3,000). Through this membership over $65,000 of products were received including eggs, milk, cereals, peas, corn, soups, peanut butter, peameal bacon, rainbow trout, all-beef wieners, laundry detergent, toiletries, cookies and crackers and for Christmas, a supply of candies. The cost of the food and shipping is covered by Feed Ontario.

Our Work

Over the year the ELEFB helped 2,263 families which consisted of 3,121 adults and 1,172 children. This averages 293 families a month. At Christmas 293 families (468 adults, 191 children and 6 babies) were provided with a Christmas Hamper. To provide meat, fresh fruits and vegetables on the Christmas table meat and fresh or frozen fruit and veggie vouchers were included in the hampers. Larger families received more vouchers.

The Christmas Hampers program involves a lot of work sorting food and assembling the hampers. However it is rewarding to hear the warm-hearted and sincere thank you when the hampers are picked up.