CPC Halifax:  Stuff-A-Bus 2005

Submitted by Dave Steele
  

The 15th annual Stuff-A-Bus Food Drive Campaign in Halifax was, once again, a huge success!  Over 18,000 kg’s of food (that’s five buses full) and $2,100 in cash for Feed Nova Scotia was raised and the Canadian Progress Club Halifax (CPCH) was there to be a part of it.  For three years running, the Club has supported this event by showing up at the Feed Nova Scotia warehouse to unload the buses as they came in.  This year, there was an added bonus as the buses were running late, we got to bag carrots and fold boxes.  We showed up ready to pitch a hand wherever we could and we did.  This club is a dynamic group but some of them should not be allowed to bag carrots unsupervised.

This year’s count surpasses 2004 by over 4,000 kgs and talk to any of the guys that were there, it was by far the heaviest of the three years that CPCH has participated.  Our patented “human food chain” can effectively unload a bus in about 30 minutes and all jokes aside, it is truly impressive to see how smooth the work goes and how much fun the guys all have.  The staff at Feed Nova Scotia is truly appreciative of our Club and our desire to help them.  Feed Nova Scotia is one of the CPCH’s primary beneficiaries of our Community Service endeavours.  We are proud to have been assisting them in their efforts for over five years running and their efforts have touched many, many lives throughout Nova Scotia:

• Total number of people using food banks in March 2005 – 25,453 (+7.6% from 2004)

• Total number of children using food banks in Nova Scotia – 8,361

• Percentage of working poor – 7.5% (3rd largest recipient group)

• Percentage of persons with disabilities – 11% (2nd largest recipient group)

• Percentage of people on income assistance – 62% (largest recipient group)

• Approximately 2/3 of food bank recipients are a combination of single people (31%) and single parents (34%)

The Club looks forward to building upon our relationship with Feed Nova Scotia in 2006 to help knock down these statistics.