LITTLE CURRENT—Helping Hands Family Missions of Sudbury has completed the second of what organizer Jamie Fitchett hopes will become a regular monthly free food giveaway event on Manitoulin. The latest giveaway took place, once again, at the NEMI Recreation Centre in Little Current, but Mr. Fitchett plans to move the location to one of two other sites in the municipality.
Council has expressed concerns about traffic congestion on Highway 6 should the event take place in the busier summer months, a concern Mr. Fitchett says he shares. The other locations would not impose the same traffic challenges.
Mr. Fitchett noted that the sponsors of the food giveaways, Second Harvest, were so impressed with the response to the first giveaway, they have committed to funding one transport load a month to Manitoulin.
The foodstuffs ranged from cookies and ice lattes to squash and cucumbers and included canned crushed tomatoes along with a host of other items.
“We had a great turnout earlier in the day,” said Mr. Fitchett when The Expositor stopped by in the afternoon. Traffic was not an issue at that point in the day, but the boxes of food items were well-depleted by that point.
Potential locations being considered for the giveaway include the Country 103 grounds off Harbour View Road owned by Criag and KT Timmermans or the Fort Sheg location off Highway 6 owned by Ryan McNabb.
“My hope is that we will be able to move to one of those other locations sooner, rather than later,” said Mr. Fitchett, but he cautioned that nothing has been set in stone at this point.
