The food bank in Port Hardy celebrated its management changeover today with a free barbecue and street celebration.
The Harvest food bank is now run by the Loaves and Fishes charity, based in Nanaimo. Peter Sinclair with the charity says it was a good fit because they already had a presence in the region.
“Loaves and Fishes Food Bank has been involved in Port Hardy since 2019 through our free food market at St. Columba Church,” he says. “In spring of 2023, we were approached by the board of the Harvest Food Bank to look at how we could integrate our services and help make sure that we continue the good work.”
Abby Sauchuk with Loaves and Fishes says they have expanded services to meet the growing need, and are preparing for winter.
“We are able to serve people six days a week through this building,” she says. “We are also able to store more food here, so if there is a time where the weather is making it unable for us to bring the trucks up, we can store extra surplus food here for emergencies so that we can remain reliable and consistent for the North Island.”
The food bank is staffed by locals, distributing food brought up by truck from Loaves and Fishes’ main distribution centre in Nanaimo.
The food bank remains in operation at the 1720 Market Street location.
