CONMEE -- The Rural Cupboard Food Bank has a new home.
The organization, which services a huge swath of Northwestern Ontario outside of Thunder Bay, has moved into a newly built addition to the Conmee Community Centre, after spending its first 16 years in the basement of the Redeemer Lutheran Church in Kakabeka Falls.
In addition to privacy and shelter from the elements for clients already reluctant to seek a handout, the new space is also a boon for volunteers, who no longer have to cart hampers up and down a narrow set of stairs.
It’s been a long-time coming said Mark Halabecki, chair of the Rural Cupboard Food Bank’s board of directors.
“It’s definitely an amazing experience knowing that all the work we’ve done over the past 16 years has brought us to this place, that we’ve been able to serve everyone a lot easier, rather than having to go up all the stairs and the previous location.”
The need has never been greater.
Halabecki estimated they dole out about 2,000 hampers a year, with 75 to 100 families a week making use of the services – more at peak times of the year.
Conmee Mayor Kevin Holland said hunger touches every part of society and is just as relevant and prevalent in rural Northwestern Ontario as it is in Thunder Bay.
“We do see a lot of residents who are on a fixed income, who are seniors. I keep referring to the old commercial you used to see on television a few years ago when they open a can a soup and the roof comes off their house,” Holland said.
“For a lot of the people in the rural areas who don’t have another source to go to meet their needs, that was their reality. They have to make a choice between putting healthy food on the table for their families or paying rent and utilities, which has really hit the rural residents hard in the last few years.”
The organization is looking to raise about $420,000 to cover their mortgage and the cost of purchasing fridges and other equipment for the new facility. Donations can be made at www.raisethefoodbank.com.
“It’s not just the building itself, we had to furnish it as well.”
Halabecki said the public can also drop off food donations at Odina Foods in Kakabeka Falls.
