THUNDER BAY -- Thunder Bay’s shuttered homes for the aged may leave a legacy for the city’s hungry.
Kitchen equipment from Dawson Court and Grandview Lodge, both closed earlier this year with the opening of the new Hogarth Riverview Manor, has been donated by the city to the Regional Food Distribution Association.
Executive director Volker Kromm said the equipment will be the centrepiece of a major kitchen expansion planned for 2017, a move that will allow the organization to become more sustainable through increased revenue.
It was a phenomenal gift, Kromm said.
“We were able to access a lot of that commercial equipment in the Dawson Court facility and bring that here,” he said, interviewed late last week.
“Right now it’s in storage, but we’ll turn that into commercial production equipment and we’ll be able to puree food or make fresh vegetables and soups and things we can freeze and dehydrate.”
The food in turn will become a source of revenue to help out the RFDA’s bottom line.
“It’s important that we have donations and corporate sponsorships, but the issue here is we are growing and trying to support an entire region,” Kromm said. “For that we need extra funding. For us to be able to hire staff and provide the programming, we do need more revenue. This is an opportunity where we can sustain ourselves and not be as reliant on the city as we are.”
The organization at present prepares more than 26,000 meals per month for needy families.
The goal is to double that capacity.
It’s no wonder Kromm said he was excited at the haul, which includes steam kettles that dump and have taps, a rational oven that allows them to cook in a shorter time frame and freezers that let them cool food rapidly.
“There are a lot of great things – meat slicers on a commercial scale that we can provide a lot of great food,” he said.
The plan is to start work on the project in the new year. Much of the infrastructure is already in place, including gas, sewer and hydro hook-ups.
“This kitchen right now is used by at least 12 schools in the city and a number of caterers and organizations that come here to use the kitchen. But now, with this social enterprise we’ll be able to run it as a small business – probably somewhat separate from the regular infrastructure of the RFDA.”
