Virtual meetings, masks everywhere, no hugs or handshakes, social distancing: we’ve made a lot of adjustments to our lifestyle this year, but when, on the news, the Prime Minister stood and pleaded with us to stay home at Christmas, the whole thing took another turn. Now we are messing with tradition. No noisy dinners with extended family, no festive drinks with friends or neighbors, no community or church get-togethers. Things we often take for granted just can’t happen this year.

When we first announced the VOS’s Community Centre Stage fund; a fund to use money we had already committed to theatre venue rental to instead be given to charities, groups, or individuals who need help now more than ever, we received an email from Merle Gingrich wanting to donate $300 to the fund, ($10 for every year the VOS has been operating) suggesting the money would be given to food banks. An amazingly generous offer that allows us to extend the fund further into the new year. While the food banks always need donations, this time of year, and especially this year the Northumberland Fare Share Food Bank needs it more than ever.

So for this month’s Community Centre Stage donation, we are donating $300 to Fare Share Food Bank’s Holiday Turkey dinner drive. We donated through Holton Flowers in Port Hope but there are many donation locations. Every $20 donation gives a family in need a full turkey dinner for the holidays.

Northumberland Fare Share Food Bank is dedicated to serving Cobourg and Port Hope, by collecting and distributing food and other necessities to individuals and families in need in our community. 2,200 individuals are helped by the Food Bank each year, distributing 350,000 pounds of food.

If you have a little extra this year, you can donate food or money to Northumberland Fare Share. Visit www.fareshare.ca for info or look for the Holiday Turkey Drive sign in Cobourg and Port Hope stores.