Moose Jaw Food Bank Purchases New Building

The Moose Jaw Food Bank has been searching for a new building to house their organization for over a year now, and on Monday, Program Development Manager Jason Moore made an exciting announcement.

"We have found our forever home. March 5, we took possession of 270 Fairford Street West which is directly across the street from us. The structure has a 4,000 square foot warehouse, the area of the structure that's designated for offices needs a new roof and it needs to be gutted and remodeled, and then we are going to be adding a 1,200 square foot lobby. It's a lot bigger project than we had imagined."

The Food Bank has been in need of a new building for quite some time now, as the smaller building they are currently in has made it unsafe for them to have multiple staff members or volunteers while trying to remain socially distant. They held a capital campaign last year to help raise funds, which made the whole move possible. As Moore mentioned though, the work isn't over yet.

The building has sat empty for over two decades and will need quite a bit of work done. Luckily, a number of locals and businesses have stepped up to help.

"A local retired man, Doug Mays, has volunteered his time and services as our project manager. He's been reaching out to contractors and many of them are actually stepping up and reducing their rate of labour and donating building materials. We have hopeful plans to have the whole project completed by the end of July."

While the Food Bank has the funds needed to purchase the building and work on remodeling the office spaces, they will need to raise more in order to renovate the lobby and create a dignified space to serve their customers. They will be holding another capital campaign over the next few months hoping to raise the final amount needed for the renovations.

If you would like to help, you can visit their social media for information, or donate on their website, or by mailing a cheque.

They would also like to thank everyone in the community who made this possible by donating to last year's capital campaign.