Feeding the Hungry

Kuddos to CBC Yukon's Dave White for a great show yesterday. The program, broadcast live from the Whitehorse Food Bank, highlighted the issue of poverty in the territory. The food bank now helps about 1,100 people every month!

Yukon Energy is a regular supporter of the food bank. But before we tell you more about that, we want to recount an incident that happened outside the facility during yesterday's radio broadcast.

One of our staff had just left the building after doing an interview with Dave White. She was stopped on her way to her car by a woman who timidly asked for 50 cents to buy a cup of coffee. The employee said she was happy to give her the money, but that there was all kinds of free coffee inside the food bank, along with cookies, crackers and cheese, and other goodies. "You mean the food bank is still open?!" the woman asked. The look of joy and relief that appeared across her face said it all. She practically ran the rest of the way to the building.

It's because of stories like this that Yukon Energy is happy to give some of our profits to the food bank. Since the agency was established a few years ago we've donated a van and have made annual cash contributions; we just recently gave a donation of $10,000.

But it's not just the Corporation itself that has helped out. Individual staff members have been very generous. It was employees who filled the donated van full of food, and it's staff members who each year collect non-perishable food and other goods for the food bank.

We'd like to thank our staff for their generosity, but also recognize the great work done by the food bank staff and volunteers. Let's all work towards the day when we will no longer need such a facility in the territory. Visit the food bank's website to find out how you can make a donation.

Photos: Yukon Energy's Janet Patterson and Shelley Dixon stock shelves at the food bank; Yukon Energy staff with a van full of donated goods for the food bank. Credit: www.archbould.com.