Giving Back Runs in the Family

ALL IN THE FAMILY – Betty, Laura, John and Binny are all working together to help community members who are struggling with hunger.

“I wish everyone had food.”

Binny Musselman, a Grade 5 student, has always been troubled by how many people in our community don’t have enough to eat.

She comes by it naturally – her grandparents, Betty and John Galbraith, regularly dedicate one day a week to volunteering at House of Friendship’s Emergency Food Hamper program.

They first learned about the program from their son, Matthew Galbraith (Binny’s uncle), who served as Volunteer Coordinator over a decade ago. Matthew still volunteers weekly with this program and annually for the Christmas Food program, alongside their other sister Bethany Galbraith.

Binny has also volunteered at House of Friendship with her mom, Laura Galbraith, helping out at the annual volunteer appreciation event sand with her grandparents, at the Emergency Food Hampers program throughout the years.

So when Binny had a social studies project assigned to her at school, she decided she wanted to tackle the challenge of hunger.

“Binny decided to focus her project on food insecurity within her community after seeing the pressing need from the number of food hampers being packed,” said Laura.

And Binny also decided she wanted to bring her classmates along for the ride.

“I wanted to have my class volunteer so they could learn about food insecurity, and hopefully spark their interest in volunteering,” said Binny.

She also hopes that more people will become more aware of how many people in Waterloo Region need help feeding their families – and that there’s no shame if someone needs help.

“People shouldn’t be scared or nervous to ask for help,” said Binny. “If people need to get food, then that’s okay.”

Seeing such empathy and compassion at a young age is encouraging for Binny’s family.

“I think she has a tremendous heart,” said John, her grandfather. “She just wants to give, and she’s always looking for ways to do it.”