The Family of Norms has come together to create a donation partnership with the Nanaimo Ladysmith School Foundation called Tank For Lunch. It is aimed at lowering child hunger within our community by directly donating a portion of the sale from hot water tanks. Since its formation in May, we’ve donated over $24,720.

Donating wasn’t enough though. I had to go meet the volunteers and learn more about the program.

My first impressions were outstanding. Each of the people working had a positive work attitude and you could feel the joy vibrating from them. It made for quite a fun day. I was shown around the temporary facilities where they stored and packaged the bags of food. I learned where the food came from, how it was transported here, and how it was stored. It’s quite the process.

I also learned about the story of the head facilitator of the program. It was emotional and inspiring to hear about the challenges they had growing up and how it transformed them and gave them the energy and passion to work tirelessly with the program today.

The best part was meeting the families. The gratitude they have for the workers each week as they grab their meals was outstanding. Knowing that there are families out there struggling to feed their children is heartbreaking, but I’m so proud to be part of an organization that hinders the struggle; I wish to continue to keep meeting more families and getting to know them.

On average, $27,000 worth of food gets handed out each week from the Nanaimo Ladysmith School Foundation, and they know that theirs more families out there that aren’t receiving the help they need. To read more about our program, click here.