Lieutenant Rick Apperson of the Bulkley Valley Salvation Army is currently deploying Christmas hampers and kettles in Telkwa, Houston and Smithers.
Already 22 children’s hampers have been handed out at schools, there were numerous stuff the truck events at local grocery stories this month as well as 13 police cruisers stuffed in Houston and of course the Christmas Kettles have been out and about for weeks.
Although the funds raised through the kettles hasn’t been like past years, the food bank has been well stocked with hundreds of donation coming in from across the Bulkley Valley, Apperson said it’s welcome news as the past two years has been hard on some families.
“We’ve seen a huge increase in our food bank usage, it has gone up dramatically in the last two years,” Apperson said.
“In Houston and in Smithers we’ve seen an uptick of new clients as well as just more people coming in to our drop in centre, so it’s been quite active this time of year.”
The Christmas Kettle program runs until December 25th.
Listen to the full interview below.