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Dryden Food Bank looking to expand with Moffat Family Fund

Dryden Food Bank is asking for $80,000 from the Moffat Family Fund to help with its expansion plans.
dryden-food-bank
Dryden Food Bank (Photo by Dryden Food Bank)

DRYDEN — The local food bank is hoping to receive $80,000 from the Moffatt Family Fund.

The manager of the Food Bank, Al Huckaby, explains that the money will be used to expand the Food Bank’s stock and help lower the costs for their weekly delivery service.

“For a number of years now, we’ve made yearly grant applications to the Moffat Family Fund to receive some funding to help with our programs,” said Huckaby.

In 2022, Food Bank Canada’s Hunger Count reported that nearly 1.5 million people visited Food Banks in March alone, which was the highest count ever recorded.

“The economic situation that’s going on in the country is a big part of the need for people to access food banks,” said Huckaby.

Huckaby said in February, the Food Bank provided 427 food hampers which worked out to 37 hampers a day.

“That would be 68 individuals a day. 204 individuals a week. So, if you multiplied that by a month that is 816 each month individuals are accessing help, and over the year that would lead up to almost 9800 people needing assistance just here in Dryden,” said Huckabay.

$26,856 is being committed to a cooler and freezer unit. The idea here is to have more frozen food available for their clients.

“We are looking to do an expansion on our building and we wanted to bring in some units that will help with this, so we purchased two 13 by 14 units. One is a cooler. One is a freezer,” said Huckaby.

Huckaby said that the total price of the units was $94,000. In the fall of 2022, the Moffat Family Fund provided $15,000, and fundraising helped with the rest.

Huckaby notes that since they purchase a refrigerated van in 2019 it allowed them more access to second-harvest foods from retail stores.

“Just because of that, we really found an increase from our retail stores helping us out with food products that really need to be safe food handled. So, warehousing and space are becoming an issue,” Huckbay said.

Once the Food Bank get the unit operating, they plan to have more flash food like frozen vegetables available on the shelves.

Huckaby said that their biggest funding ask is help with the food bank’s milk and calcium-rich foods program. This year, the food bank is requesting $50,000 to help the organization purchase Milk products.

The cost of food has gone up considerably and it’s really affected the dairy and calcium products,” Huckaby said.

With more low-income residents relying on the food bank over the last few years, the organization is committed to ensuring their shelve are stocked with a healthy selection of foods.

The food bank is also requesting $4,000 for their weekly home delivery service to help with the cost of insurance and fuel. The home delivery service had been in service since 2020 and it’s operated completely by volunteers. The food bank offers this service to those who aren’t able to get to the food bank to pick up groceries by their own mean.

“This a program we’ve initiated for clients who are facing mobility difficulties or have a physical disability, mental health issues, or chronic issues,” Huckaby said.

Council will vote to approve the list of recipients and send the applications to the Moffat Family Fund at their Council meeting later this month.



Clint Fleury

About the Author: Clint Fleury

Clint Fleury is a web reporter covering Northwestern Ontario and the Superior North regions.
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