A local organization has quadrupled its floor space.
This week, the Timmins Food Bank opened its doors downtown Timmins on Cedar Street South, in the old Daily Press building across from the Porcupine Dante Club.
The move was needed because the group outgrew its old space on Spruce Street North, said Timmins Food Bank chair Rick Young.
"What happened, when COVID started we couldn’t adhere to the six-foot rule, our place was so small. So we moved downstairs into the basement of the church because the Lord’s Kitchen wasn’t serving a meal, but we’ve been looking for 3.5 years for a place to move to,” he said.
The food bank teamed up with the Cochrane District Social Services Administration Board (CDSSAB) for the new location. The CDSSAB bought the building and the food bank is leasing the space.
Right now, Young said food is being stored in four different locations.
“So now it’s all going to be one spot. Everything will be unloaded here,” he said.
In fact, vehicles can back up to an enclosed loading door, which will especially help through the winter months.
Some work still needs to be done in the new space.
A walk-in freezer and cooler are ordered and need to be installed.
Volunteers have already started serving clients downtown Timmins.
The food bank is open every Wednesday morning and served 84 families this week, along with handing out 19 bags made especially for unhoused people.
“It went beautiful. We’ve been actually working on this for the last seven months. What you see, all the racks, that’s all food from food drives — the firemen’s food drives, the schools, companies. DSSAB let us use the building before we actually let us use the building before we started our lease so we took all the food we were getting in and brought it all over here,” he said.
They're already getting people dropping off items at the new space, as well.
Wednesday afternoon, Young received a call from the Holiday Inn Express.
Soon after, general manager Darryl Gauthier and stepdaughter Isabelle Bertrand were at the door offloading a skid of donations and handing over $500.
The items were collected in May when staff could bring in a donation of cash or non-perishable food item in order to not wear their uniform that day. Some of the hotel guests who heard about the program also pitched in.
The user numbers are up, said Young.
Every week, he said there are 150-170 people served by the food bank. Families are able to attend once a month, while people referred from Living Space can stop by once a week. Because they don't have access to a fridge or stove, Young said special bags are made up to hand out.
