The Nourish Food Bank in Quesnel was destroyed in a late-night fire on Monday, May 5.
Operated by the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Northern BC branch, it provided an invaluable service to the local community. It was left devastated by the blaze, and it remains unclear whether any of the donated food inside survived.
In response, Primetime Wrestling, a local independent wrestling promotion, is stepping up to support the Quesnel community.
The organization announced on Facebook that it has set up drop-off bins for donations at several ticket locations, including J&A Stereo, the Scrapbook Zone and Vista Radio studios. Donations will be accepted until May 20.
Primetime is also planning to collect food donations at its upcoming event, scheduled for May 16 and 17 at the Prince George Civic Centre.
Stuart Brown, co-owner of Primetime and also known in the ring as “The Mangler,” spoke to The Citizen about the company’s efforts to help Nourish Food Bank during this difficult time.
“Just seeing the story on the fire and seeing how many people are going to be affected and how devastating it was just made us want to step up right away and help out any way we could,” Brown said. “There are 700 families that they help on a regular basis there. Hearing that that many people can be without food – that’s just not a good thing.”
Brown added that community support is a core value of the organization.
“Even though we’re a wrestling company, one of our goals was to be community-oriented first and always help out in any way we could. We just want to be able to step up and keep helping,” he said.
Brown said he hopes to fill two to three vehicles with non-perishable food donations for Nourish and is confident the community will respond generously.
He also noted the importance of donating essential and often-overlooked items.
“Quite often, what they need is feminine hygiene products,” he said. “Those usually go a long way with the donations. And then there are the secondary items — a lot of people bring the noodles and rice, but they don’t think about ketchup, soy sauce and stuff to go with it. There are a lot of secondary items to add.”
Nourish Food Bank is also accepting cash donations. To contribute, visit the Food Banks BC website.
