How Four Shelves in a Cupboard Grew into the SFCSC Food Bank

Shary Denes | Jul 05, 2023

It started in 2009 with a chance phone call to Rural VISIONS (Volunteers in Service in Our Neighborhoods) Centre, what today is known as Southern Frontenac Community Services Corporation (SFCSC). Jennifer Linton was filling in at the front desk for another volunteer when a caller began to tell her about the hardships they were facing, including putting food on the table. Several more phone calls came in from people with similar difficulties feeding themselves or their families.

At the time, the extent of SFCSC’s food pantry was four shelves of nonperishables donated by employees and stored in a cupboard at the organization’s then location on George Street in Sydenham. As a member of the SFCSC Board of Directors and chair of its fund-raising committee, Linton decided to lead the charge in raising funds for the food bank.

Over the next several years, and with the generous support of area churches and community organizations, Linton, along with then Executive Director David Townsend, grew those four shelves of perishable goods into what today is an indispensable lifeline for thousands of individuals across the community. “We had wonderful community support in so many ways,” Linton said of those early days.

Today, the SFCSC food bank provides hampers filled with packaged goods and fresh produce from its organic garden to hundreds of households and more than a thousand individuals each year with the help of some 20 volunteers.

“I so appreciate them,” said Sharon, a longtime SFCSC client who asked that only her first name be used. “I don’t know what I would do without them. When I make a pot of spaghetti, I already have some of the ingredients from the food bank. I’d be lost without the food bank, honestly.”

Since its inception, the SFCSC food bank has been an essential anchor for the township’s residents who contend daily with food insecurity, but the pandemic and subsequent inflation changed the landscape for more people and generated a surge of demand.

From 2020 to 2021, the food bank served 1,874 individuals, a 36 percent increase in one year, and provided 14,532 days of food, a 41 percent increase, according to SFCSC’s statistics. The number of seniors using the food bank increased by 75 percent. In 2022 the food bank served more than 2,000 individuals, 751 of whom were children.

“We are seeing more large families accessing the food bank,” said Ellen Mortfield, family services coordinator. “Demand for food is increasing across the board, but I’m also seeing that many of our new registrants are employed, on maternity or medical leave, and simply can’t keep up with current food prices.”

To illustrate the growing number of families frequenting the food bank, Mortfield compared the amount of food distributed in January of this year to that of April. While the number of hampers was the same, the number of individuals being served increased from 167 in January to 186 just four months later.

“The numbers show that we are serving more large families, which makes sense as they are facing even larger grocery bills than smaller households,” Mortfield said. “In the first week of May, out of the18 orders received, 13 were for families, and eight of those were for families consisting of five or more individuals,” she added.

Just as inflation has hard-hit nearly everyone, the food bank is no exception. While 95 percent of the nonperishable foods are donated by community members and area businesses, Mortfield still must buy staple items to supplement the hampers.

“Nearly every week, we purchase milk, bread, eggs, ground beef, potatoes, carrots, onions and apples,” she said. “When we can find a good sale price, we try to add margarine, cheese and yogurt and lunch meat. Grocery prices are really hurting us. Our spending on these provisions increased 47 percent from 2021 to 2022.”

Townsend, over the years, had explored all manner of funding options from the government to expand the food bank as demand for its services increased, but with little success. As a result, the food bank and some of the agency’s offices for years were housed in what had been intended to be temporary accommodation in two outdated portable buildings behind the Grace Centre in Sydenham, the agency’s home since 2011.

Short on space and amenities, and lacking adequate accessibility, hand- and food-washing areas, and washrooms, public health had deemed the food bank as barely meeting current standards.

Not being able to wait any longer, SFCSC in 2022 embarked on a capital-build project to expand the food bank and administrative offices, funded largely by local support. The new building will include a washing station to clean produce, an area to prepare, package and distribute food into hampers, a cold storage room and washrooms, as well as work areas for staff and private meeting rooms for clients.

Emmons & Mitchell Construction started work in November 2022 with the replacement of the septic field and began construction on the building in April. Completion is targeted for November.

The original estimate came in at $2 million, but considerable cost increases over the last two years added another $900,000 to the project. With $750,000 of funding from South Frontenac Township, as well as donations and grants, SFCSC has raised just over $1.7 million toward the total cost of $2.9 million.

“By the end of this project, our community will have a facility for the future,” said Greg Fisher, chair of the SFCSC Board of Directors. “A facility that will address and meet current and future capacity issues, increase adherence to food handling standards, and provide accessible washrooms and entrances for all, safer parking, confidential and private meeting places, and professional work areas for staff and volunteers.

“We need your help to reach our goal,” Fisher added. “We hope that everyone in our community will find a way to support this campaign but, most importantly, will continue to show it is a caring and vibrant community that supports both our seniors and those in need.”

Shary Denes is on the Southern Frontenac Community Services Corporation Board of Directors