Community pantries give open access to groceries, with some challenges
On today’s show, we hear from some of the organizers behind the region’s community food pantries, operations that make food and groceries available to those in need on a self-serve basis daily. Despite some challenges with misuse, the pantries are filling an important need in the community, say Wendy Keats of Station 8 Community Fridge, and Jacqueline and Tammy Fahey of the Sackville Community Sharing Cupboard.
Plus in briefs, Mount Allison’s music department welcomes its 5th annual Bragg Artist in Residence this week, and Amherst town council takes another step to approving a new six-storey development in its downtown. … Continue
Sackville Food Bank expands services with 24/7 Community Sharing Cupboard
Sackville has a new emergency support to help people survive the inflationary economy. The Community Sharing Cupboard opened last month behind the Ice Cream Coop on Lorne Street, and the Sackville Food Bank volunteers that run it are ready for an official launch event this Wednesday at 4pm on site.
CHMA caught up with Sackville Food Bank president Heather Patterson and vice-president Tammy Faye to find out more about the new service:
“Food insecurity is at the highest level it’s ever been,” says Patterson. And so the Food Bank has taken inspiration from similar programs across the region, and added another way that people can get help, on short notice, and without paperwork. The Sackville Community Sharing Cupboard is a free, 24/7, self-serve food and supply resource.
Faye says the Sharing Cupboard has been open for about a month, and is already seeing considerable use. “We’re emptied out all the time,” says Faye. The Cupboard is replenished by the Food Bank weekly, and also relies on donations to keep stocked.
A wide range of people use the cupboard, including some who already make use of the Food Bank. “I had somebody who called me today who got his order from the Food Bank last week,” says Patterson. The Food Bank is limited to supplying people every two weeks, but Patterson says the man she spoke to was able to use the Sharing Cupboard to supplement his groceries in the interim.… Continue
‘Nobody should go hungry’: new community cupboard gives 24/7 access to food and supplies
The Sackville Food Bank is expanding access with a new Community Cupboard, which offers food and supplies to anyone in need, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Longtime food bank volunteers and sisters Tammy Fahey and Jacqueline Fahey are the team spearheading the project, which is currently in its pilot form, with a small re-purposed cupboard set up outside the Sackville Commons Co-op on Lorne Street.
Hear Tammy Fahey and Jacqueline Fahey on Tantramar Report:
“It’s just a cupboard where people can come and they can take some food,” says Jacqueline Fahey, “instead of having to wait maybe until Wednesday when the food bank is open. It just makes it a lot easier.”
In addition to the new Community Cupboard, the food bank is also adding an evening pick up time to its schedule, to make access easier for people with work or school commitments during the day. According to data from Food Banks Canada, more than half of food insecure households rely on employment income, meaning scheduling matters. “A lot of people are working,” says Fahey, they can’t get out [during the day.]” Starting next week on January 17, the Sackville Food Bank will be open Tuesday evenings from 6:30pm to 7:30pm.
In the meantime, the Community Cupboard is stocked with weather-proof dry goods like cereal, soup and pasta mixes, and granola bars.… Continue
Community Cupboard coming to Sackville, and the challenges of getting food to kids in the summer
With 66 new households signing up for biweekly food pick-ups at the Sackville Food Bank, the need for the service is growing. Food bank director Heather Patterson says families are feeling the pinch, with food prices having risen by nearly 10% in the past year, according to Statistics Canada.
CHMA stopped by the Sackville Food Bank to talk with Patterson about the challenge of continuing to get food to kids who need it during the summer months, and a new project on the horizon, a Community Cupboard that could open in the fall in Sackville.
As you walk into the Sackville Food Bank these days, there are stacks of boxes filled with non-perishable food for kids. The boxes are part of a summer program partly supplied by Food Banks Canada, meant to help kids who normally rely on school-based food programs to supplement their diet.
Patterson and other food bank volunteers will add to the bags before distributing them to kids in the area. But that distribution is challenging in the summer. Without schools to get the food to kids who need it, the Sackville Food Bank is relying on its current clients and others to reach out, as well as offering bags through day camps that don’t already provide meal service.… Continue
Sackville Food Bank finds a temporary home courtesy of The Black Duck
The Sackville Food Bank has found a new, temporary home after a flood forced it to move out of its current space at 9B Willow Lane.
Food bank president Heather Patterson says the group was able to move in Monday morning to 21 Bridge Street, right beside the Black Duck Cafe, courtesy of an invitation from cafe owners Al Barbour and Sarah Evans.
“We’ll probably be a month before we can move back into our normal space,” says Patterson. “So Alan and Sarah have given us the storefront for as long as we need it, bless their hearts. I don’t know what we would have done without them.”
Al Barbour says once he heard about the flood (while listening to Meg Cunningham on Tantramar Report), he thought immediately of the empty storefront next to the Black Duck.
“It’s just sitting there empty, full of fridges and freezers,” says Barbour. “So we just inquired if they needed a space… We offered it up and they accepted it. And they’ll be there until they can go back to the other space.”
Patterson says the Black Duck space is a bit smaller than the food bank’s permanent location, but with two freezers and two fridges there, it’s a “wonderful solution” to the rather immediate problem they faced.
The Willow Lane location flooded due to a water main break last Wednesday morning, forcing the food bank to cancel its regular pick up day and go into emergency recovery mode.… Continue