New manager puts her experience to work at Stoney food bank
By: Sarah Junkin
Kimberly Jimmy
There’s a new manager at the helm of the Stoney Nakoda Food Bank, and already the community is seeing big changes.
Kimberly Jimmy has brought with her almost a lifetime of experience in the business where even as a very young woman she served as a volunteer.
“I worked my way up,” she said. “I always saw the need in my community and my focus has always been on kids.”
Jimmy hails from the Blood Reserve where she ran the food bank in Standoff, Alta., eventually serving on both the provincial and national food bank boards.
“I set my goals very high,” she said, adding that having a son who suffers from cerebral palsy also helped her identify with the needs of others.
Now 14, her son Draden is doing well, and even helps out on the food bank truck.
Since taking on the position in the Morley food bank shortly before Christmas, Jimmy wasted no time in applying for government grants and lobbying organizations for help.
To date the organization has seen an 80 per cent increase in donations.
This is just as well because Jimmy said she’s distributing 52 hampers three times a week with an additional 23 emergency hampers each week on average. Of her clients, she said half are children.
In Morley, her food bank is supported by about seven volunteers, a number that increases to close to 20 on delivery day.
Stoney Nakoda Food Bank staff and volunteers say demand has never been so high for their services, but at the same time, donations are on the rise as well. Pictured from left to right are volunteers Racina House, Chelsi Powderface, manager Kimberly Jimmy, and staff member Belinda Simeon. Photo by Sarah Junkin
“Everyone’s really friendly and everyone gets along,” she said.
But Jimmy is trying to increase her reach on the vast reserve that stretches as far north as Nordegg and south of Calgary to Eden Valley near Longview.
On Jan. 14, she helped Eden Valley open its first food bank and she routinely makes the two-hour trip to help oversee the organization.
“I’d like to see one in Nordegg too, but who’s going to take care of it?” she said of the tiny town that currently makes use of the facility at Rocky Mountain House.
In the meantime, Jimmy is focusing on her younger clients and is trying to encourage donations of formula, diapers, cereal and milk.
“There’s hardly ever formula here and I know it’s expensive, but we really need it,” she said.
Other items on her wish list include peanut butter, canned vegetables, canned fruit, rice, soup and spaghetti sauce.
The recently erected warehouse is located in the Morley townsite just west of the Morley Road and is open during business hours from Monday to Friday.
“It’s amazing who stops by sometimes,” Jimmy said. “One day a construction worker from the area came in and asked what we needed, then he went out and got it for us.”
For more information, or to volunteer, call 403-881-2766.
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You are doing a great job Kimberly!!! All our family is proud of you….success will follow you wherever you go; you have a heart of gold…keep up the good work!!!!!!!