The Nicola Valley and District Food Bank’s harvest is growing, thanks to donors of fresh food.

“For so many years, I think it was thought that you just couldn’t give [perishable food] to the food bank,” food bank manager Marlene Fenton said. “But local people are starting to catch on.”

Users of the food bank have benefited from donations of fresh fruit and vegetables from local farmers and gardeners lately, as well as larger-scale donations from out-of-town sources.

Fenton said the Fresh Okanagan Fruit stand, which sets up near Central Park, supports the food bank, and the Bass Coast festival donated 350 pounds of potatoes that went unused from food vendors at the festival over the August long weekend.

“We were actually trying to get potatoes in everyone’s hamper, so that’s a direct cost-savings for us – yet we can still pass it on to the clients. That was awesome,” Fenton said.

The Alberta Food Bank also donated two pallets of food for free, which were leftover from Calgary flood relief stocks. Fenton said a trucking company continued the goodwill by bringing it in for free as well.

Fenton said food bank users are happy about the fresh food options as that was one of the things users themselves identified as wanting more of when the food bank’s organizational structure changed in March.

While monthly hampers are still comprised largely of non-perishable canned goods, getting fresh food means weekly top-ups are more nutritious and offer more variety.

“If there are extra perishables, we put that out on the weekly assistance table, so it gets to families – and that’s huge,” she said.

She said fresh food donations stay freshest for food bank clients if they’re brought in on Tuesday mornings so they can be allocated on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday during the food bank’s open hours.

But, as with any endeavour with the charitable organization, it is always a search for more.

“I know that there are lots and lots of big gardens out there that are probably going to seed, and we would love to hear from those people,” Fenton added.