Cowichan Valley Basket Society prepping for another busy holiday season

The Cowichan Valley Basket Society (CVBS) is prepping for another holiday season. CVBS manager Henry Wikkerink says the season is busy with donation drives which help set them up for the rest of the year.

“It definitely gives us the food that we need to help other people,” says Wikkerink.

He says that local groceries stores help them out to get more supplies out to the community.

“We’ve gone towards full choice shopping, so we’re able to buy food along with the donated food that we get,” he says. “The negotiations that we have with all the local grocery stores that help us out, we’re able buy at a good price, which is much better price than when we buy our regular groceries, that really helps us extend the dollars that we get here.”

The CVBS operates two main programs across various communities in the Cowichan Valley, a food hamper program and a lunch progran.

“Last month we were over 500 [hampers], we’re seeing an 80-90 per cent growth over the last year in the need for food hampers in the Cowichan Valley,” he says.

Wikkerink says they provide about 220 meals per day across their network of food banks for their lunch program which is a similar increase in demand over the last year.

Looking ahead to this holiday season, Wikkerink says there’s a few things they could use throughout their system.

“Canned proteins is one of our greatest needs because you can take that and make it into all sorts of things,” he says. “Soup, canned vegetables, and cereal which has gotten expensive on us. And of course the thing everyone wants is sugar.”

The Cowichan Valley Basket Society will be one of three recipients of donations from next week’s Stuff the Truck campaign with Sun FM at SaveOn Foods in Duncan.