Ottawa, Ontario February 18, 2016 –The Shaw Centre and Loblaw Companies Ltd. have made a huge contribution to the National Capital Region’s food banks. Last week, at the conclusion of Loblaw’s national conference held at the Shaw Centre, volunteers spent several days packaging up enough perishable and non-perishable food to fill four 53-foot trailers. The 104,437 pounds (47,471 kg) of food delivered to the Ottawa Food Bank and Gatineau’s Moisson Outaouais represents the single biggest donation ever received by area food banks and according to Statistics Canada metrics is worth almost $275,000. In addition to the truckloads of food, Loblaw’s discount division previously donated 7,500 bags of most-needed items to the food banks.
“We were so proud to participate in this important donation,” said Nina Kressler, President of the Centre, who was part of the army of volunteers sorting and packaging the food. “While hosting events at the Shaw Centre contributes in many ways to the region’s economy, everyone here was pleased to be a part of this project, particularly as we know it can be very difficult for food banks to meet demands during the winter.”
“We were truly overwhelmed with the generosity of Loblaw, its vendors and the Shaw Centre,” noted Michael Maidment, executive director of the Ottawa Food Bank. “The amount of food that arrived was so much greater than anticipated that we had to utilize extra space at a local storage facility to temporarily hold some of it until we could get it distributed to our 140 partner organizations. This food will go a long way to help people in need across the city.”
“We were so grateful as we watched our nearly-empty warehouse fill up last week,” added Sonia Latulippe, Executive Director of Moisson Outaouais. “In fact, so much food arrived that we had to ask Club Piscine, a neighbouring business, to store 38 skids of the non-perishable goods for us. We are eager to redistribute this high quality bounty with the outreach community organisations that are part of our network in the fight against hunger across the Outaouais region – it will help us sustain many families in the months ahead.”
About Shaw Centre
The Shaw Centre was founded as the Ottawa Congress Centre in 1983. With project funding from the Province of Ontario, the City of Ottawa and the Government of Canada, the Ottawa Congress Centre was redeveloped into a new larger facility, which opened in April 2011 as the Ottawa Convention Centre (OCC). In October 2014, the OCC and Shaw Communications entered into a 10 year partnership, rebranding the facility as the Shaw Centre. The Shaw Centre is a state-of-the-art convention centre that generates economic impact by hosting conventions, trade shows, meetings, consumer shows and events. The Shaw Centre was recently named runner-up as the world’s best convention centre by the International Association of Convention Centres (AIPC). Since opening our doors in 2011, the Shaw Centre has hosted over 2000 events and has added approximately $300M to the Ottawa-Gatineau area and Province of Ontario.
The Ottawa Convention Centre® Corporation is an agency of the Government of Ontario.
About Ottawa Food Bank
The Ottawa Food Bank is the Region’s central food assistance organization. Through its 140 member agencies, the Ottawa Food Bank provides food for 50,000 people per month, 37 per cent of whom were children. On average, 12 to 14 tons of food is shipped from its Michael Street warehouse each and every weekday. For more information on how the Ottawa Food Bank helps its neighbours get beyond hunger, or to make a secure online donation, please visit: www.ottawafoodbank.ca
About Moisson Outaouais
The Moisson Outaouais, in partnership with its affiliated agencies throughout the Ottawa-Gatineau region, ensures food security for those who live in harsh economic and social conditions. Within the very heart of a vast mutual aid network, their vision is to be a regional leader in their mission to guarantee food security while fostering the development of initiatives that promote the food self-sufficiency for all. Thousands of people access food aid services each month to meet their food needs, one third of whom are children. Hunger jeopardizes their growth, health and learning capacities. www.MoissonOutaouais.com
For additional information or photos please contact:
Sylvie Carbonneau
Director of Marketing and Communications
Centre Shaw Centre
613.668.8220
scarbonneau@shaw-centre.com
