Christmas is always a time of giving and generosity, but what of the rest of the year?

The Salvation Army Food Bank is one of the largest beneficiaries of Estevan's sharing spirit, however, it does see some ebbs and tides with the seasons.

"Our shelves are a little depleted. That's always the way it is come June. We have a great food drive during Christmas, then we come through January and February and by the time we get to this point people are beginning to prepare for holidays and things like that. That's the way it works," observed Major Heather Harbin with the Salvation Army.

"We have had some monetary donations, which do allow us to buy some stuff so we're able to meet the needs, which are pretty well the same."

"We have the same number of folks show up, coming to us and we want to be able to meet their needs for sure, and we've been able to do that so that's great," she added.

Harbin said that they would like to put out a challenge. As practically everyone and their dog, hamster and pet parakeet is engaging in ways to make the celebration of Canada's 150th birthday count, they would like to do the same, by challenging people to donate to their local food bank.

"We're really just getting the word out, we haven't done anything officially. Maybe it will be something that we will promote over that week. It's the theme of Canada, which is wonderful, and we thought, 'sure, why not make it something that would benefit us and in turn benefit the community?'"

She noted the staples are items that they could always use more of.

"We're getting low on peanut butter, which is always a great thing. Kraft Dinner, pasta sauce, some soups, tinned vegetables and meat, those are the great things that every food hamper receives. Any one of those would be great."

"They can show up here at our building, say that they have a donation for the food bank, and we'll gladly receive it," Harbin said.