Call it charity with a punch.
The Conception Bay South Boxing Club and locals of two unions representing workers in Newfoundland and Labrador have teamed up to provide vegetable hampers for local food banks.
Members of the boxing club recently presented Teamsters Local 855 and the International Union of Operating Engineers with a total of 720 of the hampers, which come from vegetables grown by Clearview Farms in Lethbridge on the Bonavista Peninsula.
After purchasing the hampers from the club, the unions forward them for use by local food banks.
The club’s president, Randell Rideout, suggests this is a case where everyone is a unanimous decision winner: the boxing club helps support a farming business in the province by buying the vegetables, then sells the hampers to earn money that will be put toward’s the club’s operations and training of young fighters; the union locals provide double-focused assistance to the boxing club and to members of the Community Food Sharing Association; and food banks and their clients are the end beneficiaries.
This is an annual effort by the boxing club, but Rideout notes it isn’t restricted to the holiday season. For example, the hampers can fill a need for weekly Jiggs dinners, so he is hoping that over the coming months, more unions and other organizations will to get into the ring and participate in an endeavour that involves — and assists — so many.
