FEED Nova Scotia's 2007 Canstruction^® Event

Submitted by Greg Cole
CPC Halifax

CPC-Halifax lends a hand (lots of them!) in support of FEED Nova Scotia's 2007 Canstruction® Event

Every month, 42,800 Nova Scotians struggle with the anguish of hunger and rely on the help of food banks to feed themselves and their families. The Metro Food Bank Society was founded in June 1984 as an emergency food relief program to assist churches and social agencies that were experiencing increasing demands for help with food in Metro Halifax. The Society took on the responsibilities of soliciting food and monetary donations, allowing agencies to focus their efforts on making permanent changes in the lives of their clients by helping them to better their financial situations and move out of food bank lines.

In 1989, the Board of Directors set a goal for the Society to close its doors by December 31, 1994. The Board was optimistic that food bank usage would eventually diminish when economic conditions in Nova Scotia improved. Unfortunately, this never happened. Since then, the number of food bank clients has more than doubled and problems of poverty continue to worsen.

In 2002, the Metro Food Bank Society expanded its role to help food relief programs all across the province. It was at this time that the Society changed its legal name to the Metro Food Bank Society~Nova Scotia. To better reflect its provincial role, in March 2005, the Society changed its legal name to FEED NOVA SCOTIA.

Today, FEED NOVA SCOTIA is the central collection and distribution centre for food banks and meal programs across the province and serves thousands of people each month.

Each year, FEED NOVA SCOTIA hosts Canstruction®, a community event that helps fight hunger in a way that is entertaining, fun, and a remarkable display of the talent in our community. CPC-H has assisted the Canstruction® event for a number of years now, providing the manpower the evening before the event to unload tractor trailer trucks filled with pallets of canned food to be used in the event the next day.