More than ever before, the people of Minto, N.B. have depended on their food bank. The local economy has suffered, but its people have rallied.
Rhonda Collette has volunteered at the food bank for the last 12 years - 40 hours a week, 52 weeks of the year.
Rhonda has cooked hundreds of pies, put together thousands of food hampers, and fed many, many mouths.
“Somebody has to feed the people,” says Rhonda. “When you get $500 a month and you got to pay $450 for rent, you've got nothing to live on and most single adults that's what they get.”
Collette is known as the boss of the kitchen and the coordinator of the Minto Community Resource Centre, where the food bank is housed. She wouldn’t have it any other way.
“If I'm tied up in the office, Rhonda is the one who runs the building,” says Brenda Belliveau, Minto Community Resource Centre coordinator. “She packs my food boxes, she does my clothing, she does everything. She's just a phenomenal person that gives 110 per cent every day of the week.”
“(Rhonda) gives wholeheartedly all the time,” says Herbert Demmons, Minto Food Bank past-president. “She never looks for thanks or anything.”
After 47 years of marriage, and four kids, Rhonda’s husband has one word he uses to describe her.
“Marvelous. She's just, she's A-one,” says George Collette, Rhonda’s husband.
Rhonda is the reason many people in the community have something to eat at night, but she says she gets more out of it than the people she helps.
“If I was just sitting at home I'd just be watching TV or bored,” says Rhonda. “I meet people every day, talk to people, have a lot of friends.”
Congratulations to Rhonda Collette, our Maritimer of the Week.
If you know someone deserving of our Maritimer of the Week award, we want to hear about it.
It doesn’t matter how old they are, the nature of the good deed they’ve done, or what part of the region they live in — we want your ideas!
Please send your nomination to:
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Maritimer of the Week
P.O. Box 1653
Halifax, N.S.
B3J 2Z4
