| Jun 20, 2018


There are lots of changes afoot at the North Frontenac Food Bank, both in the background and in public. The first is the ‘retirement’ of the longest serving Food Bank Volunteer, Alex McLeod.

Alex first started volunteering for the Food Bank when it was closely tied to the Sharbot Lake Anglican Church and pastor Bruce Geddes. He also worked with Brenda Piatt, one of the early and longest serving directors of the Food Bank, all the way until the present day, a total of 24 years. A plaque was presented to him at a food bank board meeting last Wednesday (June 12). That same day was the last day of the year when the Granite Ridge Lakers Program students were scheduled to come in and do their food sorting shift. For the last four years, the students have come in every Wednesday during the school year to help out with Miss Gregory. And each week over that time Frankie Badour has been there. That day, Frankie, who is about to graduate, was the only student who came out, and we caught him with this photo, a fitting end to mark his commitment to helping out.

The big news, that the North Frontenac Food Bank is sharing, is their big move. As of July 1st, they are vacating the basement space that has been graciously donated by Rosemarie Bowick, the former owner of the building at 1095 where the Food Bank has been located since 2014, and also since last November by Ram and Rimpy Kaillon, the current owners of the building.

“We are very grateful to Rosemarie and to Ram and Rimpy, but we have been needing a larger, more accessible space for a while,” said Food Bank Director Kim Cucoch, and we have been bequeathed a pretty large sum of money to cover rent for a few years so we are moving to the Sharbot Lake Country Inn, above the restaurant on the street level,” she said.

The Food Bank also requires a second fridge to store fresh fruits and vegetables and they will be able to fit them both in the new space.

In the past, the Food Bank was serving about 24 families a month in the warm weather and up to 35 in the winter, but that number jumped a couple of years ago to 35 families in the summer and about 50 in the winter. The numbers have remained steady ever since, stressing the capabilities of its soon to be former location.

The Food Bank will be closed the week of July 2 to July 6 and will re-open the following at the week at the new location. For further information call 613-532-8855

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