NANAIMO — Years of planning, advocacy, and fundraising have finally paid off, with the official grand opening of a new warehouse for an Island food bank.
Loaves & Fishes Community Food Bank celebrated the official grand opening of their East Wellington Rd. facility, named the Tom Harris Regional Food Centre, on Wednesday, Oct. 28, around two months after they began moving services into the expansive 24,000-square-foot facility.
Executive director Peter Sinclair told a crowd of invited guests, staff, and volunteers the sizeable warehouse and office space is already impacting their operations, with 10 tractor-trailer loads of donated food arriving in the coming days.
“The first tractor-trailer load arrived this morning. There’s going to be another nine tractor-trailer loads of that. I looked out my office window [as the first truck left]…and there was another semi in here, 11 pallets of eggs all in this cooler. This facility meant we could handle that seamlessly. We received those donations, they went into the racks, our team of volunteers can get to work on sorting it and getting it out.”
Loaves & Fishes’ Empties 4 Food program has been operating out of the new warehouse since late August. (Image Credit: Loaves & Fishes Community Food Bank)
Moving into East Wellington began in August with the Empties 4 Food program, followed shortly after by a bulk of their food recovery and distribution operations.
It means the organization can leave behind their previous 6,000-square-foot Fry St. location, which was grossly undersized for the volume of people the organization sees on a regular basis.
Sinclair said they will likely sell the Fry St. property in the near future, considering the scope and growth potential of their new home.
“This is not about having a great facility for today, so that we can do what we are already doing in a much nicer building. This is a facility that will enable us to do more. This is a facility that will enable us to serve all of Coastal B.C.”
The new space offers space for around 800 pallet, four times the space at the organization’s previous Fry St. location. (Image Credit: Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)
Construction of the facility was supported through a 2021 land purchase by the City of Nanaimo, along with a subsequent 30-year lease for $10.
Regional District of Nanaimo provided around $500,000 towards initial design work.
The provincial government made a $7 million contribution to the project in 2023, while federal funding of $5 million was confirmed earlier this year.
Sinclair believes some divine intervention played a role in securing the final piece of the financial puzzle from the federal government.
“One afternoon in September, I was coaching out at the Nanaimo Track and Field Club, and [then Prime Minister] Justin Trudeau showed up, and I just barged up to him, and I asked for $7 million,” Sinclair told the crowd. “He nodded, but it wasn’t until I listed off the support that we had from the City…the Regional District, and…the province that he really paid attention.”
Executive director Peter Sinclair (right, facing camera) was given a standing ovation after his remarks Wednesday night, in recognition of his work over several years to make their new headquarters a reality. (Image Credit: Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)
Sinclair said they’re working toward four main goals: to ensure every coastal non-profit who needs food has it available to them, operating free food markets in communities across the region, scale operations to receive large donations, and connect with every major grocery store to coordinate daily pickup of surplus food.
The organization presently works with 40 grocery stores across Vancouver Island and runs 20 different locations for free food markets, a majority of which are in Nanaimo.
Opening Friday, Oct. 30, a new free food market will be set up on site, adding to a network of existing locations around the region.
So far this year, nearly 10,000 people have made a collective 100,000 visits to markets on the Island.
Sinclair added the official opening of the building is a major milestone, but not one to dwell on too long.
“Tonight we celebrate, but tomorrow we get back to the work of turning this vision we have, an abundance of food for all, into the reality we know it can become.”
Considerable warehouse space is still being filled as the organization completes its move to East Wellington Rd. (Image Credit: Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)
Nanaimo Mayor-elect Leonard Krog said the concept of food banks has evolved over the years, as more people have needed to rely on them for their basic needs.
He said they were initially thought to be temporary.
“Instead of ignoring the problem, instead of pretending that it would go away, this community, through all of you and those who preceded you in doing this work, you have stepped up to the plate in a very strong, real, and significant way. It speaks well of the city of Nanaimo, it speaks well of the spirit that motivates this community.”
He added Loaves & Fishes model of food recovery is one which can be replicated across Canada, saying “there is no more efficient, well-run organization delivering these kinds of services anywhere in this country.”
Peter Sinclair, executive director of Loaves & Fishes Community Food Bank, addresses invited guests on Wednesday. (Image Credit: Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)
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