One in 23 people, one in 13 children and a total of almost 900 families were helped by Vernon's Salvation Army Food Bank in the last year, and with the need growing by 36 per cent over the last few years, the operation is set to expand.
Members of the Salvation Army's recently formed Community Council met with dignitaries and the public at the food warehouse on 24th Street Thursday, Sept. 5, to announce that the current home of the Salvation Army Thrift Store next door will be renovated to become the new home of the Vernon food bank.
鈥淲e looked for a new space for the food bank for almost a year, and when we did not find any suitable buildings, the decision was made to renovate a building that we currently own," said Salvation Army Lieutenant Neil Thompson. "The new space and location will serve the community for years to come.鈥�
The thrift store will be relocated to a leased space on 43rd Avenue in the Town Centre Plaza, where the Dollar Tree and Habitat for Humanity ReStore is located. Renovations for the new thrift store have already begun, and it is expected that renovations for the food bank will begin in late fall.
The hope is to open the new food bank early in the New Year.
All food donations will be received, processed, stored and distributed from the new site at 5400 24th Street, which will be 12,000 square feet.
The food bank currently helps 50 to 75 people daily, and the new food bank will be able to serve more than 100 people per day.
In addition to moving away from the current food bank site on 32nd Avenue, the Salvation Army is moving away from a hamper program where staff determine what goes in each hamper, to a model that resembles a supermarket, where people can come in and choose the food their family will eat. This shift in the distribution model is made possible by the move to a building with more space and resources.
The new food bank will feature a truck loading bay, a loading bay for smaller donations, a commercial freezer big enough to fit 36 pallets, cold storage for produce, a dairy cooler, refrigerators and freezers in the marketplace, storage racking for 150 pallets, sorting and processing space, a recycling area and emergency response vehicle storage.
Ron Cartmell, community liaison officer, said the new commercial freezer will be much bigger than the current freezer, allowing the food bank to distribute frozen food "over a matter of months, as opposed to how are we going to get rid of this (food) in a couple days."
While Thompson acknowledged the new site won't be downtown, he said it is on a good bus route and is close to other shopping centres that are used by the people the food bank serves.
It is anticipated that the new food bank will need 30 volunteers a day to run, and Salvation Army is hoping to have 200 volunteers contributing on a regular basis on top of one additional paid staff. The Salvation Army is recruiting heavily, and Cartmell guessed they currently have about 60 volunteers.
The expansion comes with a $650,000 price tag, but a big chunk of that has already been secured. Kari Gares, a member of the Community Council, said an anonymous donor has agreed to match donations up to $200,000. For the rest of the needed funds, the Community Council has initiated its 30 Days of Giving fundraising campaign.
The campaign also got a boost Thursday from Josh Persaud, founder and CEO of Energy Economics, which is contributing $20,000 over four years.
People can donate through the Vernon Salvation Army , or call 250-549-4111 to speak to a Community Council member for larger donations.
The current food bank on 32nd Avenue will close once the new food bank opens. The House of Hope will continue to operate at that location, and Cartmell said with the added space, there will be more opportunities for community-based programming there.
