Service at the Greystone Food Bank in Halifax’s Spryfield area has been suspended after a change in leadership and concerns were raised this week.
Even with the disruption, plans are in the works to try to ensure that clients get their food.
“We decided until we understood what was happening, we would make alternate arrangements for support, and stop deliveries to the organization that we had had a previous arrangement with,” Becky Mason, a spokesperson for Feed Nova Scotia, said in an interview on Thursday.
The food bank is located at 33 Lemon Walk in Greystone, a community where many people live in public housing.
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Mason said 140 people in the community use the service, an average of 43 households per month.
She said that the charitable organization received calls of concern about the leadership change, a change that Feed Nova Scotia was not made aware of beforehand.
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She said the organization is working on finding a short-term solution to provide food to the community by next week, though the normal days that food is provided (Tuesdays) may be switched. Once the plan is solidified, affected residents will be sent letters about it on Friday.
Work with the community to determine a permanent solution will begin in January, Mason said.
Rena Walters was a member of the Community of Rockingstone Society, the organization that previously ran the food bank. She said the organization was involuntarily dissolved on Monday.
Alternatives Outreach Society took the reigns that day, and member Jodi Brown said food was provided to residents on Tuesday.
The food bank’s locks were changed by Thursday, she said.
READ MORE: ‘We’re people too’: Public housing residents fed up with delays
Brown and Walters painted unflattering images of each other’s roles in the situation in separate electronic and in-person conversations, respectively, with Global News.
“The locks on the unit were changed when we received notification from FEED NS that they would be suspending service at this location. This is not uncommon in situations such as this,” Heather Fairbairn said in a written statement on behalf of Metro Regional Housing Authority, which oversees the property.
Christmas meals will be delivered as normal, Mason said.
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