A new addition to the Food Bank brings greater impact to the community

Whitecourt Food Bank Director Lori Coffey is excited to announce that she recently succeeded in her goal of adding a vehicle to her arsenal. “This has been in the works for a year and a half, but the timing couldn’t be more perfect,” she explained. “We’ve never had a delivery vehicle in my 16 years here. All the volunteers, and I, would use our vehicles to do things for the food bank, and we were limited to what our vehicles could hold.” That meant making multiple trips during food bank drives and more work. Now, being able to do everything in one trip will mean better use of time and resources.

Adding to the usefulness is that the van is freezer/cooler capable. One of the most significant resources she has at her disposal is Food Banks Alberta, which allows her to pick up pallets of food items, including fresh fruits and vegetables and meat. Coffey could only take advantage of the free food twice a year without a van because the shipping was so costly. Now, she will be able to drive into Edmonton and take advantage regularly. “This van is a game-changer for us. I will be able to pick up two pallets from Food Banks Alberta once a month! We are going to be able to pick up frozen things which we’ve never had access to before.”

“This is going to save a minimum of $5,000 each time because I don’t have to pay for those pallets, so I’m accessing free food and not having to pay for shipping, just the gas for the van. That is massive. It is literally game-changing. We’ve had it for less than a month, and everyone here is just so excited about it,” said Coffey gleefully. “We did two trips for pallets within three weeks. That’s something that we would never have been able to do without the van.”

She was able to get the van through two separate grants that she combined. “I was able to secure one grant, and it was for a used vehicle, but we couldn’t quite make it work. It was not worth spending all our money on a used vehicle. Then I was able to secure a second grant to get a new vehicle, and we were able to combine them to cover nearly the entire cost. We still had to put in some money, but we felt that it was better to have a new vehicle so that it would not break down and cause us any issues,” explained Coffey. Once purchased, they retrofitted it to be cold and freezer capable.

“We’ve been working on this for a long time, and it just finally came together. Honestly, the timing couldn’t be better because I feel that I’m going to have a surge in clientele here shortly, and now I will be able to feed the community. We will be able to take care of people because we will be able to access more food, share more food and provide better, more nutritious hampers with more variety and quality food.” Coffey said that she fears having an influx of families that need help once government support for COVID slows down, especially with the economic downturn that was already happening before the pandemic.

Another exciting part of having a van is picking up a particular item close to the holidays. “We never used to be able to and get turkeys from Food Banks Alberta at Christmas time. We would have to rely on donations, but now I can get some turkeys. Things like that change everything!” She is also looking to start having supper-type foods on hand, such as frozen vegetables, meat, and perogies. “This wasn’t ever an option for us before, and I didn’t even look at those emails because I knew I couldn’t go get it. Now I can pick and choose and fill my fridges and freezers and be ready. This van is going to save us so much money and stretch our resources even further.”

Coffey said that she is incredibly grateful to the community for their support and said that the van is just another addition to that. “People are so amazing and helpful. All our food drives, they fill us up with deodorant, shampoo, soap, diapers, and it makes for a full hamper. If you could see how happy people are to get all of that included, it really does make a big difference,” explained Coffey. “I try and stretch every single dollar to the best of my ability. Whatever you are willing to help us out with, I truly am lucky to be in this community because our community takes care of the food bank. Whitecourt is really, really good to us.” She said that receiving toiletries and non-perishables helps round out the hampers. “Every little bit makes a difference!”

Coffey said she is excited to see how much they can save thanks to the van’s addition. “When I picked it up in Edmonton for the first time and drove it home, I had two pallets in it. So, even the very first trip brought home food. I tallied up the pallets, and I would say there was about $6000 worth of food on that first trip. As far as I am concerned, that comes off the van’s price because I would not have been able to get that otherwise. We saved money right away.”