Families can putter around for free if they bring a food bank item to LocoLanding Adventure Park on Sept. 17.
Owner Diana Stirling said they teamed up with the Penticton Western News to offer a free day of mini-golf for people in the community, in exchange for a cash donation or non-perishable food item for the Salvation Army Community Food Bank in Penticton.
“Our goal is to always see if we can do anything to benefit a charity when we do anything like this at LocoLanding,” said Stirling, noting families and individuals rely on the food bank year-round, which can be difficult during those times when donations are lower.
“September and October are definitely challenging months for our local food bank,” she said. “In December, they get a ton of awareness, it seems to be on the top of mind for our community, but the other months, it isn’t.”
It is exactly why the Western News has joined the LocoLanding campaign on Sept. 17.
“This is such a need in our community, so we are more than happy to work with LocoLanding to bring awareness to the Salvation Army Community Food Bank. We want to help the food bank fill their shelves to ensure people in this community don’t go hungry,” said Western News publisher Don Kendall.
Stirling said they look at supporting any initiatives that are child-related, adding that in previous years, the park has held events to help collect more items for the food bank.
“We do a program here in June, for a food drive, so we have every single Grade 3 student come to LocoLanding for free, in exchange for food bank donations,” she said. It’s a really popular program. It raises a lot of food for the food bank.”
These and similar types of events that are held in those months outside of the lead up to the holiday season in December are both needed and beneficial to the local food bank, said Stirling.
“My understanding is the Salvation Army can leverage a cash donation three-to-one, as opposed to a food donation, so that’s always definitely a value, if people can afford to do that,” she said.
Free mini-golfing will be offered from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.