Surrey Food Bank has a new depot in Whalley/Guildford, thanks to a partnership with a church in the area.
Cedar Grove Baptist Church was set up for food distribution for the first time Wednesday morning (March 17) at 10330 144th St., a block south of 104th Avenue.
The depot will open every second Wednesday from 10 a.m. to noon, according to food bank executive director Feezah Jaffer.
“It’s amazing, in a beautiful multipurpose room they have there,” Jaffer raved. “We have the capacity to serve anywhere from 50 to 100 people per distribution day.”
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Today was the first day at @cgcsurrey - our newest food bank depot, serving Guildford/Whalley. We are happy that we can support this neighbourhood and we are grateful to Pastor Kevin, and all the volunteers that came out to help with distribution! pic.twitter.com/7w7RfAFMoS
— Surrey Food Bank 🇨🇦 (@SurreyFoodBank) March 17, 2021
We are so pleased to announce the opening of our newest off-site food bank depot in the Guilford/Whalley area!
— Surrey Food Bank 🇨🇦 (@SurreyFoodBank) February 25, 2021
Starting Wednesday, March 17, 2021, area residents can use the food bank at Cedar Grove Church.
Please call 604.581.5443 to register, or if you have any questions. pic.twitter.com/QgG9Jp92D0
Jaffer said church operators are providing the space along with a contingent of volunteers, while the food bank will handle logistics including registration and all transportation and distribution of food.
“It’s a starting point, for sure, because we believe this location, this depot, has the potential to become our largest, outside of our main site, just because of the volume of clientele that lives in that area,” Jaffer said.
To register, call 604-581-5443 or visit surreyfoodbank.org for details.
Along with the new site in Whalley/Guildford, Surrey Food Bank operates depots in Cloverdale and North Delta in addition to its main warehouse, opened in Newton last summer following a move from City Parkway in Whalley.
• RELATED STORY, from July 2020: Surrey Food Bank opens huge new ‘forever home’ in Newton.
“Since we moved from Whalley to Newton, we needed something, a partner in the Whalley/Guildford to serve our clientele there,” Jaffer explained. “It was our goal to do our move last summer, and then to hopefully start something there by the spring of 2021. It’s been sort of a perfect storm to make this happen, after the church approached us late last year about partnering.”
Meantime, the food bank’s Tiny Bundles program needs vegetarian baby food, large diapers and formula for families with young kids. “Donations can be made at any grocery store in Surrey and North Delta, can be dropped off at local firehalls or at the food bank itself,” the agency tweeted Friday (March 12).
• RELATED STORY: New ‘Phoenix Flame BBQ’ truck now mobile with food for Surrey’s ‘hard-to-reach populations’
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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