The summer months can lead to fun and games for families but for those less fortunate and the Okotoks Food Bank it can be a hard pill to swallow.

June, July and August are the hardest on the shelves throughout the year and the Food Bank is calling for help to keep things on the full side.

Executive Director Sheila Hughes says she's seen quite the jump in Food Bank use from 2015 to 2016.

"Our numbers have increased from last year we've seen an increase of about 47 percent overall of the number of hampers given out," she says. "Last year on average we gave out 106 hampers, March was our busiest month ever as we gave out 128 hampers."

Hughes says that stat doesn't even tell the whole story of how hard it is to keep shelves stocked.

"That doesn't even include our help yourselves shelves where people can come in and get a couple bags of food just to get them through. We've seen about a 300 percent increase or 320 visits on a typical month."

Hughes says she hopes the community will use the Feed The Foothills initiative to help through the summer months and help fill their list of needs for families.

"Our stock is quite low, but typically low for this time of the year. Our non perishable items of course are what we really need. Things like cold cereal , canned meat and fish, items for school lunches, coffee & tea, personal care items are huge on our list too.

The Food Bank will be setting up shop at Safeway, No Frills and Sobeys for the next five weeks with Feed The Foothills you can see the schedule below and see the Food Bank's list of important items.

Feeding The Foothills

Schedule. ** Each on location will be from 3-6

June 9th Sobeys

June 16th Safeway

June 23rd No Frills

June 30th Sobeys

July 7th Safeway

July 14th No Frills

July 21st Sobeys.

Most Needed Grocery List

- pancake mix & syrup

- canned meat & fish

- canned vegetables & fruit

- peanut butter, jam,

- coffee & hot chocolate

- ketchup, mustard, oil, condiments,

salt & pepper

- rice, sugar, flour

- canned chunky soups, mac n’ cheese

- cookies & crackers

- shampoo, conditioner, deodorant

- Toilet Paper, Kleenex, Paper Towel;

- dish soap/laundry soap

- cleaning supplies

- shaving cream, razors, lotions

- School Lunch Items: single serve soups/meals, mac n’ cheese, tuna/pb/cheese & crackers, individually wrapped cookies, crackers, microwave popcorn, juice, pudding, fruit cups, trail mix

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