Are you a Peterborough resident with some extra food and toilet paper to spare? If you’re not ill or in self-isolation, you can leave a bag of non-perishable food items and toilet paper on your front porch on Monday morning (March 23) and volunteers will come around to collect it.
The city-wide porch food drive — called “Spare A Square” in recognition of low supplies of toilet paper — has been organized to help restock the empty shelves at Kawartha Food Share.
The non-profit organization has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as some people have been stockpiling basic food and personal care items for themselves and emptying grocery store shelves of these items for others.
Kawartha Food Share assists more than 8,900 people every month through 11 food banks and 20 food cupboards in the city and county of Peterborough, as well as through four meal programs and six housing projects.
Those people, including families with children, who rely on Kawartha Food Share every month are particularly vulnerable. And if people on limited incomes cannot get needed items at grocery stores, they will turn to a food bank.
To participate in “Spare A Square”, leave a bag filled with non-perishable food items and one or two rolls of toilet paper (protected within another bag) on your front porch by 9 a.m. on Monday, March 23rd.
Beginning at 9 a.m., volunteers will drive around the city and collect the items to deliver them to Kawartha Food Share’s warehouse. In accordance with social distancing directives, the volunteers will be in their own vehicles and will have no face-to-face contact with people who leave bags on their front porch.
Needed items include:
- Toilet paper rolls (please place one or two rolls of toilet paper in a ziplock bag if you have one or another bag that keeps it separate; add the bagged rolls to a larger bag of non-perishable food items)
- Canned tuna
- Pasta and pasta sauce
- Alpha-getti, Kraft Dinner, and Chef Boyardee (items that are easy to cook and that kids like)
- Breakfast cereal (a lot of children will be without school breakfast programs for the foreseeable future)
- Peanut butter (Kawartha Food Share is currently out of peanut butter)
- Any non-perishable fruit and vegetable items
- Rice
- Canned soup and stew
- Feminine hygiene products
- Baby formula
Important note: if you are are feeling ill for whatever reason, or if you are in self-isolation, please do not leave a bag out for collection. This will help protect the health of both pick-up and warehouse volunteers.
If you are ill or if you do not have enough supplies to participate in the food drive, you can instead make a cash donation online at www.kawarthafoodshare.com/donations.html. Even a small donation will help — for every dollar donated, Kawartha Food Share can purchase up to six dollars worth of food.
Many local businesses, especially restaurants, have donated items to Kawartha Food Share over the past week. If you own a business and want to make a larger donation of needed items, email greatturkeyexchange@gmail.com to arrange for a bulk pick-up.
