The Locking in Hope fundraiser is an initiative by the Kamloops Food Bank and the city of Kamloops.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Kamloops Food Bank
December 03, 2018 - 3:00 PM
KAMLOOPS - You may be familiar with symbolic public art installations involving “love locks” that have become popular tourist attractions in cities like Paris, Toronto and Lisbon. Now there's one coming to Kamloops.
Through the Locking In Hope fundraiser — an initiative put together by the Kamloops Food Bank and the city of Kamloops — individuals can purchase a "hope lock", personalize it and attach it to a public art installation which will be unveiled at Riverside Park this summer.
Kamloops Food Bank executive director Bernadette Siracky says the theme of ‘hope’ is a mandate of the food bank.
“Instead of putting the word love we decided to put hope... it means something different to everybody,” Siracky says. “I think the word hope resonates with people in so many different ways.”
The goal of the fundraiser is to raise $100,000 for the food bank which currently supports 7,000 individuals including 54 community agencies and nine regional food banks, Siracky says.
“We don’t have core government funding at the food bank,” she says. “Food banks are really dependent on their communities to support their efforts.”
The food bank has been working closely with the city on the details of the project. Siracky says each letter of the word hope will be a 3D structure approximately five feet tall and will be installed at Riverside Park.
Siracky says the city will own the art installation after the fundraiser is finished.
A structural drawing of the 'hope' public art installation coming to Kamloops on June 6, 2019.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Kamloops Food Bank
“This is going to be an active installation within the community and that’s really special, people are going to be placing their own mark on this,” Siracky says, adding the bigger impact of the project is for the food bank to continue to support the people who rely on their services.
“People shouldn’t be hungry in our country, this shouldn't be a thing but yet it is,” she says. “We have a line-up at our door every day, we hope for a different future, we hope for the food bank not to exist and hope for poverty to be at a different place in our community."
When you buy a lock for $20, you will also receive an invite to the unveiling of the art installation on June 6, 2019, at Riverside Park.
To purchase a lock and donate to the Kamloops Food Bank go here.
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