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Rotary exchange student from Chile plants a tree at Clearwater Secondary School
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Representatives from regional food banks pick up cases of canned salmon provided by Kamloops and District Labour Council. Picture are (l-r) Glen Foster (Chase), Anton Houeen (Barriere), Mogens Jorgensen (KDLC), Wes Graham (Kamloops), James Schnackenberg (Kamloops), and Sherry Joubert (Clearwater). Photo submitted

Submitted

Clearwater and District Food Bank recently was one of the food banks in five communities to receive cases of canned salmon through Kamloops and District Labour Council (KDLC) in partnership with Protein for People.

A total of 140 cases of canned salmon were distributed. They went to food banks in Kamloops, Chase, Barriere, and Merritt, as well as to Clearwater.

Protein for People

Protein for People is a non-profit society that was founded by six B.C. unions and the United Way in 2006.

Since then, it has grown to include over 30 unions, labour councils, and community-minded corporations that work together to provide high quality protein to local food banks.

To date, the program has overseen the delivery of hundreds of thousands of cans of salmon to BC food banks and, in turn, to some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.

How it works

Member organizations, unions, labour councils, and individual union members donate cash, and the power of bulk-buying is then used to subsidize food bank purchases of protein-based foods that are generally in short supply at food banks.

The mainstay of the program has been canned salmon, but peanut butter was added as a meat alternative in 2016. Corporate partners contribute to the cause either by donating cash or providing other services.

Save-On Foods, for example, has generously been handling the shipping of goods from the lower mainland to our area, which cuts costs and greatly increases the amount of food we are able to purchase.

The KDLC connection

KDLC began working with Protein for People about four years ago, when the project was taken on by executive member Mogens Jorgensen.

A retired United Food and Commercial Union worker, Jorgensen was able to make the connections necessary to bring the project to our local communities.

For more information visit kdlc.ca (Kamloops and District Labour Council) and proteinproject.ca (Protein for People).