An influx in the amount of food being stored at the Food Depot Alimentaire warehouse, means they have run out of space.
President Dale Hicks says this food is coming from Food Banks Canada and for the Breakfast Clubs.
“In 2017, there was about 750,000 pounds of food and this year it is more than double, around 1.6 million pounds of food, that will be distributed across the province. We also do the Breakfast programs, where food is distributed to 21 schools across the region.”
Hicks says they’re currently renting four additional outside containers to store food.
“We’re not getting compensated a whole lot for doing this right now. We’re getting to the point where we we’re going to say that we didn’t expect this volume of food when we started based on previous experience with the association Food Banks Canada. Now we have to make some adjustments to allow that food to keep on coming,” Hicks says.
His concern is as we get closer to Christmas, they won’t have storage for food that is distributed locally.
“Going into Christmas with the local food donations we will get, to support Peter McKee, the local kitchens and shelters, we will be turning away food by December and telling Food Banks Canada, don’t sent that tractor trailer down here because we have nowhere to put it,”Hicks adds.
Hicks says they currently aren’t receiving a lot compensation or support from the provincial government, which would help with funds to allow them to expand.
He estimates it would cost around $500,000 to expand. The FDA would like to receive at least half of that from the provincial government.
