Surging activity has the Surrey Food Bank looking for a new home, but organizers say they’re getting pushback from residents at one proposed site.
The food bank is currently located in an 8,000-square-foot building at 135 Street in the Whalley area; it serves more than 250 families per day.
Executive director Marilyn Hermann said that strong demand and busy activity at the facility means the food bank just doesn’t have enough space in its current home.
“Now we’re seeing people like you and I who are just simply not able to meet their monthly expenses. They are families, they are single moms, single parents, seniors,” she said, adding nearly 40 per cent of clients are families with kids.
Virginia Stover is one of those clients. She said there are times when she wouldn’t be able to make ends meet without the food bank.
“Spring break I was down to literally three cans of soup because I had nothing because my kid came to stay with me. I had nothing and the food bank saved my butt,” she said.
“If it wasn’t for the food bank, I’d probably not have much food in my house. I also take care of my elderly dad and the food bank is a godsend,” said another client who didn’t want to share their name.
Hermann said there is so much demand for the food bank’s services that the organization has opened up an “evening depot” to serve those considered “the working poor,” who can’t make the daytime hours.
“They’re not who you think, they’re people who are working. We have an evening depot which we’ve opened for about 40 families who consistently come every two weeks, they have jobs,” she said.
With the demand putting pressure on the facility at its current home, Hermann said the food bank is eyeing a church in the Guildford area as a new location.
But area residents haven’t exactly been warm to the idea, she said.
“We want the community to understand how important it is for the food bank to be here, we don’t want to be here. But as long as there are people lined up at our door that tells me the community needs help and we need the community to help us,” Hermann said.
The Food Bank is looking for something up to three times the size of its currently facility; ideally, it would be located near a bus route, as 40 per cent of its clients rely on public transit.
The organization has actively searched for a new location for more than five years, but has faced challenges due to soaring real estate prices.