A key partner in our community has enabled Nanoose Community Services (NCS) to assist the region’s most vulnerable residents since the beginning of the food program.
“Our relationship with Quality Foods at Red Gap is working well. They support us in every way they can”, said NCS food program coordinator, Denise Francescini.
From the early days of the food bank collection and distribution begun by Ginny and Charlie Brucker, to the current format of food card distribution, Quality Foods has made it possible for NCS to help many people in our community over the years.
“We met before Christmas with the QF managers to negotiate the conversion of over 50 million QF points to food cards for distribution to our clients”, said Denise. That provided more than $4,000 worth of food cards covering most of the needs for the month of December.
The food program revised its format from providing donated food items to providing ‘gift cards’ which allow the user to choose their own products at the store.
In addition to the conversion of points, QF provides a 6 percent dividend on cards used every six months for use by the food program.
Currently, NCS is working with Quality Foods on a written agreement to formalize the relationship between the two parties, which has up to now been an informal arrangement.
“We feel fortunate to have such a good understanding with the local store managers, Ken and Nick”, and we always appreciate their support for the community”, Denise says.