Donations sought for Rotary Community Pantry

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

As the Rotary Club’s Community Pantry gets closer to launch, organizers are seeking volunteers as well as donations of time and goods.

Tillsonburg Community Pantry will be a small, standalone building behind the Station Arts Centre. It is not intended to compete with the Tillsonburg Helping Hand Food Bank, but will operate in tandem with it. According to the project website, “the project aims to strengthen food security, reduce food waste, and offer flexible access to nutritious food for anyone who needs it.”

Similar concepts have been used successfully in other communities, including Norfolk and London.

The facility will include a refrigerator to keep food fresh and shelving for canned goods.

Rotary member Jason Weiler said construction will start this spring, and the club is looking for donations of services and/or materials.

“Anything that is donated knocks down the cost, and we can use that money for the operation once it’s started,” he said, adding used materials may be accepted, but that will be subject to review.

The Community Pantry isn’t the first time the Tillsonburg Rotary Club has been involved in assisting with feeding the community. Club members assisted Cycles of Life during the pandemic.

“From there, we were looking for other ways to assist in that area,” he said.

Then, a perspective club member came up with the concept of community pantries and researched how it worked in other centres. A presentation was made to council last February to get the ball rolling.

“There’s a broader need associated with food insecurity in our community and others,” Weiler said.

Club members plan to obtain their food-handling certificates to go above and beyond what is required. Initially, they plan to be open Tuesdays and Thursdays, but the hope is to make the pantry's food accessible several days per week eventually.

Weiler said the pantry is intended to fill gaps for those who need food.

“We would never be able to handle the volume of existing services,” he said. “It’s just intended to be one more option on the list of things available for people with food insecurity,” he said.

Although the pantry will be on the Station Arts Centre property, it will not be operated by the centre’s staff. Rotary members and community volunteers will run the pantry.

Partnerships already extend beyond the Station Arts Centre, with the Tillsonburg Helping Hand Food Bank being a key player. The food bank will assist with managing the food inventory and provide a central location for volunteers to drop off donations and gather items for restocking. On each operating day, a volunteer will clean the pantry, collect items left by the community, review all remaining goods while following public health guidelines, deliver donations to the food bank for sorting, and pick up replenishment items—including perishables that cannot be held until the next food bank distribution.

Volunteers will also be needed for the ongoing operation of the facility, and the club is hoping for partnering businesses and farms that will donate food.

For more information, contact the Rotary Club at pantryproject@rotarytillsonburg.ca or through the club web site at rotarytillsonburg.ca