The successful Coach4Food program which has helped create thousands of dollars and thousands of pounds of food has been transformed into a broader program called “My Team Cares.”
The announcement came at the North Bay Food Bank on Tuesday morning. Debbie Marson, the My Team Cares co-chair says the goal of this program is to engage the community year-round and make collecting not just about sports teams.
“Coach4food was established in 2005 until just this past year so what we are going to do is refer to the program as ‘My Team Cares’ which will be the element or platform for collecting,” said Marson.
“Again it will be for any individual, group, or association, anyone who has done collecting for the food bank in various ways throughout the season. Now they are going to register through us so we know who is out there and what they are doing and we can recognize that.”
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Coach4Food founder Tom Hedican was on hand at the media event to endorse the new initiative.
The new website was launched today and it is all about year-round sustainability as the North Bay Food Bank only survives on fundraising that is done locally. While the award-winning Coach4Food initiative traditionally took place in the late fall up until Christmas, this one will go year-round.
“We are going to go from November 2019 to October 2020 and then we will start again every year so we have a sustainable program year-wide for the food bank,” said Marson.
Marson says it is about getting everyone behind the program, and not just sports teams.
“That was the traditional way to do it through the sports associations, specifically hockey,” said Marson.
“We want to expand upon that because we have been told there are other groups and other sporting entities that want to participate in this so that traditional platform wouldn’t work when you include football, soccer, or groups like that.”
Amber Livingstone, the Manager of the North Bay Food Bank, says the new program is open to any and every organization.
“We talked about teams, it can be your girl guides, it can be the Beaver group, it can be something like a birthday party and you don’t want gifts, instead you can bring a donation to the food bank and register," she said.
"So it is really open to everybody and it gives everyone a chance to be a food bank champion young or old.”
For more information on the program contact Co-Chair Debbie Marson at [email protected] or check out the My Team Cares website at www.northbayfoodbank.ca
