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Youth soccer gives P.A. food bank a boost

Mar 9, 2016 | 11:01 AM

The Prince Albert Food Bank’s shelves won’t be quite so bare after a food drive.

The Prince Albert Youth Soccer Association (PAYSA) partnered with Panago Pizzo for the drive during their regular soccer registration Monday March 7 and Tuesday March 8 at the Alfred Jenkins Field House.

Mitzi Pytlak, PAYSA’s office manager, doesn’t have concrete numbers on how much food they gathered, but she does know have a boardroom full of perishable food.

“I’m really proud,” she said. “It’s a need and it’s so easy for people to grab something out of your pantry on your way to registration.”

The first night of registration was slow, but the donations picked up on the second night.

Prince Albert’s Panago Pizza owner Hunzi Markos said he jumped at the opportunity to help the Prince Albert Food Bank after he heard about the Shellbrook Food Bank closing. “We didn’t want our food bank to shut down too,” he said. 

Both Markos and Pytlak said they wouldn’t hesitate to hold another registration drive for the food bank.

Pytlak said PAYSA will do another registration drive in the spring, and hopes other athletic groups in Prince Albert will do the same.

Kerry Ramsdell with the Prince Albert Food Bank said the food drive was a great help in their time of need. “It’s getting to the point of having to cut back a bit on what we’re putting in the hampers,” she said. “Not that we want to, but we have to make it stretch.

“It’s nice to know that there are people out there who are willing to help.”

 

ssterritt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit