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Sentinel
Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 58 No. 14
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
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1.30 INCLUDES TAX
Food Share looks ahead Cameron Orr After diverting over 105,000 pounds of food from the Kitimat landfill since they started, the Kitimat Food Share Program is not content to rest on their laurels. The community service, which is run under the banner of the Kitimat Community Services Society, has plans to expand their definition of ‘food share’, which will mean an expanded public market in 2013, and hopefully soon a community garden. Liz MacDonald, the Food Share co-ordinator, is excited for the programs they have geared for the near future, which includes a weekly – instead of biweekly – market that she said will be expanded to include musical acts and a garage sale alley. But the market is only an aspect of their work, which is even at times built on the work they do distributing food to those who need it. MacDonald said two users of the Food Share even became vendors during last year’s market. So to start, the food comes from the two Kitimat grocery stores, Overwaitea and Super Valu, each which provide a wide variety of food items from milk to deli sandwiches. From there the food is distributed in a number of ways. School-based LINK programs use the food for things like breakfast programs, and the Kitimat youth centre has been receiving food donations as well over the spring break. Food will make its way to Kitamaat Village, and of course people can pick up food at their office in Mountainview Square. The participation in the food share is significant. MacDonald said there are 597 registered with the organization to collect food, 277 of those are children. MacDonald said that the users are a great bunch of people and many will turn around and offer their time to help them out. One of their volunteers, who we’ll not name for their comfort, said that they were happy to donate their time to the Food Share during the week because of how much they went above and beyond in supporting them during some rough times last year. “They helped me out [last year], I was in real need of food, I was in a bad situation,” the volunteer said, who added they had no power or water at the time. The Food Share gave out food and recipes to use on the barbecue, the only way for them to cook at the time without any power. “They definitely went above and beyond in helping me, so I don’t mind volunteering my time here,” the volunteer added. Continued on page 6
Bruce Wilson and Shirley Merkley at the Kitimat Food Share Office, two of the service’s very active volunteers. Cameron Orr
KUTE faces economic battle Cameron Orr An approved emergency funding request by Kitimat Council for the Kitimat Understanding the Environment (KUTE) recycling centre will keep the group afloat as they handle the hurdles of low paper pricing and high labour costs. KUTE will now get an additional $2,500 a month from the District of Kitimat to offset their shortfalls. KUTE’s double-whammy includes labour costs that reflect an increased minimum wage, and employment costs related to a high turnover of staff. As well, the price of cardboard and office paper has tumbled to levels that make it impossible to actually make money, let alone break even. “We’re losing money as we speak,” said KUTE President Barb Hall. “I’m not trying to make money, I’m just trying to keep the place going.” In a letter to councillors, Hall outlined the losses the organization has seen since November. In that month they lost $3,319.15, in December they were down $3,132.66, in January it was $2,550.24 and in February they lost $2,793.73. They’re currently facing a cardboard price of $50 a tonne, which is down from $70 in February last year. Meanwhile office paper has tumbled from $125 to $60 a tonne.
“We need it to be in the $90 a tonne [range],” said Hall about cardboard. She didn’t say how high office paper would need to go to make money on processing it but said as well it would have to go much higher. She has no indication on when the price of cardboard might rise again. “It’s one of those things, how do you know?” she said. “If I knew that, I would be a billionaire.” Hall notes that last year’s residential cardboard ban is not a significant factor in their money losses. “It’s not that we have the cardboard ban that is the problem. It’s just that we’re losing money a little bit faster,” she said. “It is a factor but it would happen regardless. We just had so many things happen all at once. All these people leaving so we don’t have real experienced people there either.” In her letter to council Hall said that KUTE had lost six employees since November 2012, two of those being depot managers. In a three week period they had to pay ten weeks worth of holiday pay for outgoing employees, she wrote to council. “It’s been a tough four months,” she later said over the phone. Continued on page 3
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Local Girl Guides honour Thinking Day ... page 6