25,000 pounds of potatoes were delivered to the Prince George Salvation Army, a Food Banks BC distributor, last week and 10,000 pounds of those P.E.I. spuds were gifted throughout Prince George to places like the Salvation Army Food Bank that feeds 3,000 people each month, and about 50 other organizations that provide hunger relief in the community like AWAC, the Native Friendship Centre and St. Vincent de Paul Society.
The unexpected donation was one of many made across Canada as the federal government covered the cost of buying and transporting five million pounds of potatoes to food banks, according to a report in Glacier Farmmedia network.
There was a ban on P.E.I. potatoes exported to the United States last November when potato wart was discovered in two fields, a parasite that poses no risk to human health but disfigures the spuds. As a result more than 225 million potatoes destroyed.
As other potato farmers continued to grow healthy potatoes with nowhere to go as the ban continues, Food Bank Canada became the designated benefactor.
“Mostly the 25,000 pounds of potatoes we got was shipped out right away to outlying areas and were only stored in our warehouse over night or for a couple of nights and they were out of here,” Roy Law, community ministries director for the Salvation Army, said.
Potatoes were shipped as far away as Prince Rupert, Bella Coola, Fort Nelson, Chetwynd and Williams Lake and all the communities in between, Law added.
“We’re grateful for the support that helps us build strong communities throughout the region."
