GORE BAY—What started out as a reprimand for putting the wrong dollar figure in a story on the Lyons Memorial United Church Food Cupboard program (in a story published in the August 16 edition of the Expositor on the Gore Bay Rotary Club annual Bay to Bay fundraising ride) turned out to be a somewhat shocking tale of how much of an increase the food cupboard has seen in the need and for the amount it requires every month to stock its shelves.
Kathy Mutch, of the Lyons Memorial United Church Food Cupboard program (which was one of the beneficiaries of this year’s Rotary Bay to Bay Ride) told The Expositor that the food cupboard is faced with a significantly higher cost every month to stock its food shelves than $300.
“It costs close to $2,000 to fill the food cupboard every month,” Ms. Mutch told The Expositor. “We have been at about $1,800-1,900 and are getting very close to the $2,000 figure.”
“I know when I first started in the program our bills were close to $1,000 per month and a big order was $1,200,” said Ms. Mutch. With expected further food price increases soon, “I’m not sure how young families and single parents are going to make it.”
“We are lucky because we have great donators like the Rotary Club and local area churches that help us out,” said Ms. Mutch. She and two volunteers make the food order and pick up the items for the food cupboard, and Reverend Mercedes Hughes is on hand on Thursdays to hand out the food being picked up by needy residents (mostly from Gore Bay and Western Manitoulin).
