Lake Country Food Bank Wins $100,000 for New Building

Where clients have to wait for food. (Photo Credit: Lake Country Food Bank)

People have been voting like mad online, and it's all paid off.

The Lake Country Food Bank has been selected as one of the grand prize winners for the Aviva Community Fund, winning $100,000 to help build a new home for their services. The project had to pass through two online voting sessions to make it to the final round, earning at least $5000. On Tuesday, Aviva announced that their judges had picked the food bank as one of their $100,000 grand prize winners.

“It's great news that a community our size would receive one of the big prizes,” says Bob Rymerchuck, a member of the Rotary Club of Lake Country that's been working on the project for over four years. “We're pretty excited. This for us in Lake Country was kind of a big step out, trying to do this all through the online contest.”

The cramped inside of the food bank, crammed full with food. (Photo Credit: Lake Country Food Bank)

The food bank's current location in the cramped basement of the 100-year-old Winfield Elementary School. The volunteers running the program only have 800 square feet of working space, which is so small that their clients have to wait outside in all sorts of weather to be served. The volunteers inside then have to edge past each other to get to the food that's stacked to the ceiling. The school is also up for sale, meaning that the food bank could lose its facilities at any time.

The fundraising for this project has been intense, with the food bank already receiving donations and grants totalling about $170,000. Combined with commitments from local businesses to help with construction, the food bank is now only $200,000 short of what their estimate for construction.

A call for people to vote for the project. (Photo Credit: Lake Country Food Bank)

Rymerchuck and other have asked Lake Country Council to guarantee funding for temporary financial shortfalls, but they're hoping not to need it. Now, they're making a push to ask residents to and businesses to help, as well as continuing to look for other funding sources. “This is the modern equivalent of the old ‘barn raising’ way of doing things,” Rymerchuck says. “A community getting together to help itself and solve a problem.”

The Lake Country Food Bank serves over 600 people a month, and Rymerchuck says that this number has risen to 800 clients a month or even higher. “We're not sure what has caused that dramatic increase, but we're hearing of food banks all over experiencing it.” Now, however, the new building will hopefully help the volunteers to be able to serve these high numbers and handle bulk donations. Rymerchuck says that they're hoping to start the construction in spring.

You can donate to this worthy cause through the Lake Country Food Assistance Building Fund at 250-766-0125. Donations of over $25 will receive an income tax receipt.

(Photo Credit: Lake Country Food Bank)