Chicken Farmers of Ontario donate 650 kilos of frozen chicken to Elliot Lake Food Bank

The Chicken Farmers of Ontario (CFO) and Feed Ontario made a donation of 650 kilograms of frozen chicken to the Elliot Lake Emergency Food Bank (ELEFB). “This donation is enough for 5,500 meals, in the Algoma-Manitoulin area,” said Adelaide Wimpenny, associate director of operations and programming for Feed Ontario. The CFO Cares program, Farmers to [...]

Article content The Chicken Farmers of Ontario (CFO) and Feed Ontario made a donation of 650 kilograms of frozen chicken to the Elliot Lake Emergency Food Bank (ELEFB). “This donation is enough for 5,500 meals, in the Algoma-Manitoulin area,” said Adelaide Wimpenny, associate director of operations and programming for Feed Ontario. Recommended Videos The CFO Cares program, Farmers to Food Banks, has been a charitable initiative in partnership with Feed Ontario and Maple Leaf Foods Inc. since 2015.

Wimpenny spoke on behalf of Murray Opsteen, chair of the CFO, and for Feed Ontario. “The program provides Ontario chicken farmers with the opportunity to make an annual donation of 300 birds from their flocks in support of Ontario food banks,” explained Wimpenny. “Across the province, we’ve seen an annual increase of food bank use.

Every year, there’s more and more need.” MPP Bill Rosenberg, Algoma-Manitoulin and Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness, is a strong supporter of the food bank. He was in attendance to express his gratitude for the donation.

The politician thanked the CFO program and Feed Ontario. “Your generosity goes far beyond donating food. You are investing in the health and well-being of our neighbours.”

Rosenberg also acknowledged the volunteers, “As we travel around, we see the food insecurity around the country and the province, but it’s dedicated volunteers like yourselves that keep these programs running, and it’s so important to every community.” Before the presentation, The Standard spoke with Len Kutchaw, the food bank’s chair, about their growing services. He said, “We received $220,000 from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC).

We have recently purchased two sea cans, which will be spray-foamed for insulation so we can have the proper facility to store the donation of food.” He explained how they’re using some of that money to boost their refrigeration setup. “We purchased the sea cans for $4,000, and the spray foam will cost $6,000.

We could have purchased a walk-in freezer, but it was very expensive. The sea cans are a budget-friendly way of storing food. This will also allow us to accept more produce, as the sea cans will be temperature-controlled.”

Kutchaw expressed his heartfelt gratitude for the donation and for the volunteers who run the day-to-day operations of ELEFB, stating, “None of this happens without you.” The chicken protein from the CFO Cares Farmers to Food Bank program has been distributed to food banks throughout Ontario, resulting in the provision of over one million meals to individuals in need.