If your gas tank is a little light on September 15th, consider stopping by one of Dauphin's Co-op Gas Bars. On that day, 10 cents per litre goes to this year's Fuel Good Day beneficiary: the Dauphin Friendship Centre's Food for Thought Program.
Jarri Thompson, Events Coordinator at the Dauphin Friendship Centre, said she's very grateful to have been selected as this year's beneficiary. Over the past few years, the Food for Thought program has seen a noticeable increase in the number of students that use the program, so Thompson said the donation will go a long way.
"It's gonna make a huge difference, because the food for thought program has been growing sizeably over the last, even the last four years since I've been working with food for thought. At $4 a plate, we're estimated to get 6 to 7 thousand dollars from the Fuel Good proceeds, and so that's gonna feed a couple hundred kids...when I started food for thought back in 2020, we were sitting at around 4 to 5 hundred kids. We now serve closer to a thousand, and we still use a similar base of volunteers, between 60 to 64 volunteers," said Thompson.
Thompson said volunteers are something the program needs now more than ever. That steady growth in the number of students using the program means more volunteers will be needed, and that boom hasn't happened just yet. Whether it's preparing the meals on Mondays and Wednesdays or serving them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Thompson encourages anyone interested in volunteering with the Food for Thought program to reach out.
"If there were a need, the need is definitely more volunteers, and the funding...we're always looking for servers, so Tuesdays and Thursdays they would come pick up the food from the Friendship Centre, take it to the schools, serve it, and bring everything back, and they're also served a meal, that whole process takes about an hour, but then on Mondays and Wednesdays we're looking for volunteers to help prepare the meal, so that's more of a time commitment, but definitely worth it," said Thompson.
Last year's Fuel Good Day beneficiary was the Dauphin-Ochre Band Parents Organization, who received $6,361.74 through the purchase of fuel, BBQ purchases, and other fundraising.
