Following fire, South Porcupine Food Bank finds new locations to serve clients
Operating from the back of its van did the trick for the South Porcupine Food Bank while it made contingency plans after a fire at a neighbouring apartment unit.
Last month, the organization lost everything to smoke damage; food, appliances and its computer system had to be thrown out.
The news did not sit well with people in need. The food bank serves nearly 300 clients each month and kind-hearted souls rallied to collect food and money without even being asked.
Officials said more than $40,000 and nearly 11,000 pounds of food have been donated. The gestures have touched food bank volunteers.
“The community has just pitched in and helped us replenish and it’s just been remarkable the donations we’ve been receiving from all over the area," said Connie Grosvenor.
Grosvenor and other volunteers are now working out of a unit at the Porcupine Mall that's been donated by Metro, the mall's owner, for the next six months.
Food bank clients are asked to pick up their groceries there until the organization moves into a permanent location on Bloor Avenue, next to the C.M. Shields Public Library.
"We're here to help," said Peter Davis, treasurer of the South Porcupine Food Bank.
“Typically, we get anywhere (from) 235 to about 300 clients per month that come in. They’re allowed to come in once every 28 days, so it really does vary. We do get new clients almost every shift, as well, so there are people coming in and coming out of the food bank system."
People who walk or take the bus will also be given a utility cart. Anti-Hunger Coalition Timmins has donated 70 of them.
Davis said a lease has just been signed and in the coming months, the South Porcupine Food Bank will eventually move to 97 Bloor Ave.
Work is underway to get the facility ready for full-service food bank operations.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.