East Mountain resident is one of 300 volunteers who keep the Neighbour to Neighbour Centre running

Brenda Sinclair is always quick with a smile or a joke. For users of the food bank at Neighbour to Neighbour Centre, the warm welcome from the east Mountain resident helps take the edge off a task most would rather not do.

"I like the contact with the people," said the retired school teacher, who has been volunteering at the Athens Street food bank a couple of days a week for the past two years. "I think the clients here are my heroes because 90 percent of them are the working poor and how they can make a life on what they've been given is to their credit."

Ms. Sinclair is one of about 300 volunteers at Neighbour to Neighbour Centre who either work in the basement food bank, run the used book store, act as resource councillors, help children with their reading skills at some Mountain elementary schools or help organize fundraisers.

"People like Brenda and all of our volunteers are so committed to us," said Snezana Jevtic, director of family services at Neighbour to Neighbour Centre. "We could not operate for one hour without our volunteers."

Food bank users are given a certain number of points based on their family size and those points are used to select food items from the shelves.

Ms. Sinclair often helps users figure out how many items they are entitled to with their points or what other food items they could try if the item they were looking for is out of stock, a common occurrence these days. She also will help bag the cans of food and if needed, will help the client out their door with their selections.

"The need is so great," Ms. Sinclair lamented. "Having my own family and knowing that we have everything we want, with a blink of an eye it (the need to use a food bank) could happen to us, we're all vulnerable."

Ms. Sinclair says she treats all food banks users the way she would like to be treated and has come to know many of the clients by their first names.

"Ninety-nine point nine percent of the people don't want to be here," Ms. Sinclair said. "You can sense it in their face and their appreciation."

Despite the rising cost of gasoline, Ms. Sinclair said she has no plans to give up her biweekly volunteer work at the Neighbour to Neighbour Centre food bank which assists about 900 house holds each month.

Neighbour to Neighbour Centre accepts food and monetary donations 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday at 28 Athens Street. For more information call 905-574-1334 or see: www.n2ncentre.com