Kraft makes 10,000 lbs food donation to Cochrane

Following Cochrane’s run for the title of Kraft Hockeyville, Kraft Canada made a generous 10,000 lbs food donation to the Helping Hands Society on June 13.

Executive director of the Helping Hands Society of Cochrane and Area, Laura McDonald, explained that although Cochrane’s Old Barn did not win the title of Kraft Hockeyville, it was still one of the top four finalists.

“Kraft offered 10,000 lbs for a food donation for our community, and the SLS Centre asked Helping Hands to be the recipient of that [donation],” McDonald said. “We know our organization can spread that food far and wide, especially working with our partners.”

Soon after, a 53-foot sea can delivered the pallets of food to their headquarters for partner organizations to load up into their vehicles.

Some of the partners include the Cochrane Food Bank, Îyâhrhe Nakoda Food Bank, Banff Food Rescue, and the Canmore Food Recovery Barn.

On Helping Hands behalf, McDonald assures local residents that all the food is guaranteed to reach the table of those who need it the most in the community. She thanked Kraft for the generous donation to help support those in need both in Cochrane and the surrounding area.

“It will hit the free food sheds, we will trickle it out through the hundreds of volunteers who work on the sheds, and all of our partner organizations will operate their programs,” she said. “For example, the Cochrane Food Bank will put this food to excellent work in their hampers.”

SLS Centre CEO, Erin Wagner, said it was a very special feeling to see the community benefit from their campaign.

“Our team is extremely proud of the work we’ve put in and our community should be proud [for] finishing in the top four,” Wagner said. “As far as we know, we’re the only community to have received this 10,000 lbs donation, so I think our campaign really hit home, and obviously touched the mark in the right ways with Kraft.”

Mayor Jeff Genung said it was awesome to see the community in action, adding that it’s hats off to the SLS Centre and Kraft for making this happen.

“I still feel like we are winners,” Genung said. “We had, I think a $25,000 donation from Kraft and the Flames Foundation matched that. While we didn’t get top prize, we ended up creating a lot of community vibrancy around that.”

As one of the many people in attendance who helped load up the donations into vehicles, Genung said it’s no surprise to see the Cochrane support Helping Hands in their endeavours.

“Helping Hands is such an amazing organization,” Genung said. “It’s a pretty big undertaking, to distribute 10,000 lbs of food, so we needed to reach out as a community. And this is what it’s all about, sharing and caring.”