Menu

dryden food bank

Ground Breaking Pic

Dryden Food Bank takes next step to completing Project Hope

, , , , , , , ,

Progress is being made on the Dryden Food Bank’s ambitious Project Hope.

After having its official groundbreaking in October, this week marked the start of phase two – preparing footings for concrete to be poured on the new building.

It marks an important step for the Dryden Food Bank’s expansion and ability to soon distribute food to more people in the region.

“Shovels are in the ground,” says Al Huckabay, manager of the Dryden Food Bank. “We are hoping to get all of the work done on the addition part with all of the footings and stuff done before frost kicks in and get some walls up and a roof on before the snow flies.”

Project Hope has been in the works since 2023 when the Dryden Food Bank purchased a building with the intention to expand its facility.

Since that time, organizers have been busy trying to fundraise in order to push the project to the second phase.

With two-thirds of the $1.5 million now collected, Huckabay says it is a sign that building is closer to completion.

“Our target is looking to open in in spring or summer of next year,” says Huckabay. “(We hope) to be totally operational by the fall of next year in our new building.”

He says once the project is complete, it will allow the Dryden Food Bank to increase capacity and be able to distribute more food, especially to the region at large.

“We will become a distribution point (for) the surrounding First Nation communities and food banks in this area, like Sioux Lookout and Red Lake,” adds Huckabay.

“Instead of trucks having to go all the way to Thunder Bay and then having to ship things back into this area, some of those trucks will be able to stop off here in Dryden, drop off the products and then our volunteers will then break it down into smaller amounts to be able to distribute out to the areas around.”

Huckabay says one of the ultimate goals of the project was to build sustainable relationships with First Nation communities.

“The next stage is continuing on in looking for funding,” says Huckabay. “We’re still looking to raise that extra $500,000 that would put us over the top to be able to just really complete the project from start to finish.”

assorted plastic containers on brown wooden shelf

Dryden Food Bank seeing more visitors than year ago

, , , , , , ,

The manager of the Dryden Food Bank says more people are coming their doors than in 2024.

Al Huckabay says around two per cent more people are using the local food bank on a monthly basis than last year.

He says newcomers who have expired work visas and are out of work make up the most noticable jump in clients, followed by families.

“Because of the cost of food,” says Al Huckabay. “They’re just finding it hard to make ends meet, even though some of them are still working.”

He adds the rising cost of housing and heating is also driving many new clients to use the Dryden Food Bank.

Huckabay says the rising cost of food, in particular, isn’t just contributing to more people needing the food bank’s services.

“We rely on donations,” says Huckabay, adding that includes government and public grants. “Sometimes our grants are drying up or getting smaller and yet the price of food continues to go up so we’re not able to utilize the bang for the buck to try and purchase food (so) we’re able to purchase less food but using more money.”

He says that is forcing Dryden Food Bank to limit handouts as they stretch the food on their shelves as far as possible.

Earlier this week, Food Banks Canada announced that monthly visits to food banks were up 5 per cent nationally over 2024.

In a study, the agency found food banks in Canada saw nearly 2.2 million visits in a single month.

That is double the monthly usage recorded just six years ago.