Nelson eateries will take part again next week in a program to benefit the Nelson Community Food Centre.
It will be the fifth year the food centre hosts the campaign which has participating restaurants donating 100 per cent of food sales to the organization.
The food centre is one of the many organizations in the province experiencing financial difficulties because of inflation.
In August, the centre announced a 10-week campaign which saw every dollar donated during the fundraiser matched. The campaign was supposed to run until the end of October to allow enough time to reach a target of $100,000.
Andrew Creighton, the interim director of the food centre, said they beat their target by $35,000 halfway through the campaign.
“We raised the money faster than we thought we would. In five weeks, we raised $135,000 rather than our original target in 10 weeks,” he said
“We had some significant donations from some of the businesses in town. Nelson District Credit Union gave us $20,000 and Wildlife Genetics donated $10,000. The support just signifies how the people in our community believe in our programs and the essential role they play in the community.”
For the fifth annual restaurants for change event, Creighton says they’re aiming to match the $25,000 raised last year.
This year’s 14 participating restaurants are Beauties, Broken Hill, Cantina del Centro, El Taco, the General Store and Library Lounge at the Hume Hotel, Kootenay Tamil Kitchen, Kurama Sushi, Louie’s Steakhouse, Main Street Diner, Marzano, Red Light Ramen, Thor’s Pizza and Yum Son.
Creighton recommends that guests confirm what hours the participating establishments are running the campaign on Tuesday before they dine, as he could not say what hours each would be participating. Last year, most restaurants ran the event during dinner service.
In addition to fundraising, Creighton says the event is meant to raise awareness of food security in the community.
“We like raising funds, but we also like the notion that people are getting together and potentially talking about food security issues in our area which is what we’re all about.”
Creighton says it’s never hard to get local restaurant owners to participate in the event, although he acknowledged that this year’s number of participants is lower than in the past.
“It’s very easy to convince restaurant owners to participate in this. They all realize we are all in the same business of promoting good food. A few restaurants we’ve worked with before were unable to do it this year, which we totally understand. I’m just thankful for anything that comes out of this.”
