Revelstoke’s food bank seeks new location in city building

Revelstoke’s food bank program is outgrowing its current facility in the basement of the Royal Canadian Legion and staff are hoping for progress this Tuesday towards moving to a bigger and better space.

There are multiple issues with the program’s current location including its small storage and space options, lack of privacy and difficult accessibility for clients and for loading supplies down a steep set of stairs.

“It’s time, it’s been 15 years that we have been located down there, and it’s time for us to take a real space in the community,” said Community Outreach Program director Patti Larson.

The Community Connections Food Bank program has seen increased usage in recent years. Today 85 households, or 150 people, took advantage of the food bank program.

“We have singles, we have seniors and families with children, couples, a lot of people on disability (pensions), we have people employed who are not making enough on wages to make it by,” Larson said.

At the Revelstoke City Council meeting on Feb. 10, councillors will consider a whether to explore hosting the program at a building at 207 Fourth Street West, next to the Revelstoke Fire Hall. The city-owned building is popularly known as the Century Vallen building after a long-time former tenant. The building is currently used for city storage.

It will need renovation work before it is fit to be used but Larson doesn’t believe funding for this would be an issue, saying Community Connections Revelstoke has options for funding.

“We would be looking for capital grants for that,” she said.

“Our executive director Craig Brown is very good at finding funding opportunities. We’ve kept the food bank running on donations and grants for the last 15 years.”

The organization has big plans for their new space, including a proper kitchen to hold nutrition and cooking education classes and possibly some community events such as a farmers market.

“My hope is that we can change the model of the food bank to more of a community food centre,” Larson said.

The building is currently used as a storage facility by the city’s public works departement and if this change goes ahead a new storage space for them will likely have to be built or found.