The Salvation Army Food Bank has moved.
Formerly located in the Thrift Store on Betts Avenue, it now has its own location right across the street along with a new name.
The new name, Lighthouse Food Bank & Care Centre, indicates the Army wants it to be more than it was, explained Captain Glen Fraser, the relatively new pastor.
“We’ve been here about eight months now and when we looked at serving the people of this community, we looked at trying to serve them with as much dignity and respect as possible,” he said.
“Having the food bank in the Thrift Store didn’t offer them the dignity and respect that we wanted to show them.”
With a private location, the pastor hopes people will be more comfortable. Rather than just a quick dash in to grab a bag of food, they can sit down, chat with a worker who will be able to focus more on their overall needs.
“What we’re really trying to do is take the needs of the community and say, ‘look, what do we have that can match those needs’,” Fraser said. “We can’t be everything, but if we can take the time to sort of build relationships we can offer a more balanced hand up than a hand out.”
Although the Salvation Army is most famous for the work it does around Christmas Kettle Campaign and the Christmas hampers they hand out, Fraser noted it is a year round job they do. He estimates the food bank serves between 60 and 100 families every month.
“There is a lot more need than is perceived or apparent,” he said. “There are people who are living marginal lives.”
And, he explained, it’s not just those on social assistance
‘It’s hard to make ends meet these days and you can have your budget fine-tuned, but let’s face it, a child gets sick, something goes wrong with the car, whatever, our budgets are all blown to heck,” he said.
“Unfortunately, that in our society these days is more predominant than people think and I believe, although we’re in a bit of an economic upturn, there’s firm proof that the rich are gaining prosperity and those who are at the bottom of the line, have to hold the line.”
In addition to expanding services, the new location is also trying to provide a more balanced diet. It can handle produce, baked goods, dairy, even meat and is always looking for donations of food and money, not just at Christmas.
Donors can drop off foodstuffs at the food bank at 29 Betts or at the Thrift Store (20 Betts, if there is nobody at the food bank.
