We are beyond grateful to the continuous generosity afforded to Cherryville Community Food & Resource Society by The Colin & Lois Pritchard Foundation. We have been absolutely blessed by this foundation and their extraordinary giving hearts! Thank You from all of us at the Cherryville Resource Society.
Are you interested in donating to Cherryville Community Food Bank but arn’t sure what your donation goes towards? See below for the impact you are making on the Cherryville community with every dollar you donate to our food bank:
$10.00 – provides 25 kids at Cherryville Elementary with a milk for the School Milk Program
$50.00 – provides 20 lbs worth of food that is distributed among food bank recipients
$100 – provides sponsorship of one Angel (one child) during our Christmas Hamper and Gifts event
$500 – the cost of 2.5 trips of fully stocked refrigeration truck to surrounding rural community food banks
$1000 – allows for 57 hours of work used towards the operations of the food bank and providing services to the community
With your support, we are able to make a huge impact on our community and surrounding areas. There are many different ways that you can support Cherryville Community Food Bank in addition to making monetary donations. We accept food donations that are then distributed among hampers, we are always looking for new volunteers who want to make a difference in the community, and we appreciate personal fundraising efforts. A personal fundraising effort may include making an honorable mention to our food bank so others are aware of our organization and the services we provide or could include making a Facebook Birthday Fundraiser where funds go to the Cherryville Food Bank as one of our seasonal volunteers, Bea Bauer, recently did.
We are beyond grateful for those who have supported us and continue to support us especially during these difficult times as COVID-19 has led many families into extreme financial hardship. Our doors remain open to support our families in crisis, and it is because of you that we can do this.
Thank you for your commitment to the Cherryville Community Food Bank, we appreciate your support.
Check out this YouTube video presented by Meghan Derkach, Executive Director at Cherryville Community Food and Resource Society.
(1318) A Rural Approach to the Compassionate Community Model – YouTube
Bio: My name is Meghan Derkach, and I was born and raised in a rural community called Cherryville. I have always been an advocate for social justice and equity since a young age. When I was 18, I was having lunch with a group of older adults who were sharing their frustrations about having to leave the Cherryville community because there weren’t enough resources for them to live independently and I remember feeling absolutely broken hearted about it. That was the moment I realized I wanted to support Cherryville aging and pursued a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work with a Concentration in Aging. I was drawn to the aging-in-place model, community development and looked to age-friendly community literature. However, being rural has its unique challenges and many of the “making an age friendly community” infrastructure wasn’t relatable. Working with older adults I soon came to realize you cannot support aging-in-place without addressing access to health care as they are overlapping systems. I then pursued a Health-Focused Master’s in Social Work through University of Waterloo to better understand the complexity behind health care and how to better support rural aging in place. During this time, I was volunteering at Cherryville Food Bank and started expanding its reach to include resources and services to all residents. In 2021 I assumed the Executive Director position after strengthening our organizational and financial health and obtaining multiple grants. 2021 we officially changed our name to include resources as we expanded our vision and mission to meet the needs of all rural residents. Fast forward to 2024, we have implemented a range of services and resources to support rural living for youth, low-income families, persons living with disabilities, older adults, and a variety of community engagement events. In early January, we started to focus on Cherryville residents who had complex health conditions and or living with life limiting illness to advocate for better access to health care within community. These conversations led us to BC Centre for Palliative Care Seed Grant as the Compassionate Community model aligned perfectly with our growing vision and mission. I am excited to share a little more about this grant and how it has unfolded in the Cherryville community.
