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Village of Burns Lake donates building to food bank

The Lakes District Food Bank plans to relocate in September
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Lakes District News file photo The Lakes District Food Bank is expected to be completely up and running in its new location by the end of September.

The Village of Burns Lake is donating a property located at 788 Centre Street - where the Burns Lake Playschool used to be located - to the Lakes District Food Bank.

“We are extremely excited about our change of location, and about now owning our own home,” said Candice Little, food bank coordinator. “This will allow us to pursue additional funding to improve and enhance food security and stability in our community which is, of course, our goal.”

Little said this decision came at the perfect time since the food bank’s current building on Hwy. 16 is changing ownership.

“We had put in a proposal for the Burns Lake Playschool building on Centre Street some months back when the village advertised its availability, and we were fortunate that the timing of all of these changes seems to be working out perfectly for all parties,” said Little.

Although the organization won’t have to worry about paying rent anymore, they’ll still have to cover costs such as utilities in the new building.

“While I am not comfortable talking about specific rent values in our current location, I can tell you that the rent and utilities we are currently paying will cover the anticipated utilities in our new home,” said Little. “So we won’t have to pay rent anymore but will have additional costs that come with maintaining our own building.”

Little said they hope to start the move by the beginning of September, and be completely up and running in the new location by the end of September.

“We are waiting for the legal property transfer at this time, and once that has been finalized, we will begin our move,” she explained.

Last February, the Lakes District Food Bank moved to a new style of distribution where clients are able to make food decisions for their own families as opposed to being given a standardized pre-prepared box of food. At the same time, the food bank was able to open their doors for distribution weekly rather than the previous twice monthly schedule.

“Both of these changes were significant, and have greatly improved our service to the hungry families in the Lakes District,” said Little. “We are very grateful, on behalf of our clients, to the Village of Burns Lake and the greater community for their continuing support.”

Once the move is complete, the Lakes District Food Bank is planning to hold a grand opening.