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Foodbank continues to operate at Lorimer Road location

Move to new centre won’t happen until late February
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The Whistler Food Bank will continue to operate from its present location at the bottom on Lorimer Road until late February.

At that time it will move to the new Whistler Community Services Society's (WCSS) community hub in Spring Creek at the old daycare centre.

When it was proposed, there was some controversy over the location of the Food Bank, one of the WCSS's most used programs, as well as transit access for other services. At the time there was almost no bus service to Spring Creek, but that has changed; according to WCSS there are now 12 scheduled buses that stop outside the centre. During Food Bank hours, 10 a.m. to noon on Mondays, there are three buses that stop at the centre - 9:39 a.m., 10:52 a.m. and 11:53 a.m.

The Food Bank will benefit from a larger storage space, as well as a large garden that will be funded with a grant from the Community Foundation of Whistler. There's also a sink and toilet, simple amenities they were not able to provide in their Food Bank trailer.

If a person cannot attend the Food Bank via transit, WCSS offers a Helping Hands program that can deliver.

The move to the new facility was made possible through the rezoning of the building to add nonprofit to the previous day care use. The facility has been vacant since the Whistler Day Care decided to stop using the space two years ago.

Meanwhile the Community Foundation of Whistler (CFOW) has donated $9,800 to WCSS to start the building of community gardens at Bayly Park at Cheakamus.

The project planning will start in March 2012, with development in the early spring and seeds will be in the ground by early June 2012. "Community members should be making fresh home grown salads by July!" said Kari Mancer, Food/Environmental Program Manager of WCSS.

The "locavoire" movement is growing in Whistler and people want to grow their own food. This is evident by waitlists up to two years for WCSS's Community Greenhouse project.

The garden at Bayly Park will allow more people to grow their own food and it is hoped that it will help move Whistler closer to its food security goals outlined in Whistler2020's Food Strategy. Priority for the Bayly Park garden will be given to current people on the waitlist as well as residents of Cheakamus Crossing.

For more information or to put your name on the list email kari@mywcss.org