After the Salvation Army pulled out of Quesnel, the city was in need of a new food bank to support those who are in need of it. The Canadian Mental Health Association opened Nourish Food Bank in June 2023.
Nourish helps around 500 households in Quesnel each month, 356 of those are households with children.
"People are still under the misconception that it's just the homeless that access us," said Nourish's Community Food Coordinator Assistant Sandra Davis. "It's not, most of them are families."
Davis was a volunteer before taking on the job with Nourish, she said volunteers and those giving donations are vital to their ability to help members of the community.
"(Nourish) basically started from scratch. We got stuff from the Salvation Army like our freezers and stuff like that, but we had to kind of structure our own food bank. Jen, my predecessor was totally awesome on doing all that," Davis said.
She said in her time working with the food bank, she has learned a great deal about what people need.
"It's not just that a person needs food, they need so many other things as well. We're hoping to be able to have those resources available so they have a phone number they can phone and things like that," Davis said. She said as much as some people need the support, it can be difficult to admit to needing the help from a food bank, which is something Nourish is trying to ensure doesn't get in peoples' way if they need support.
"We try and make it as open and as inviting as possible. We have very low barriers for people to join the food bank, all they basically need is their ID," Davis said. "It takes a lot of courage really to walk through that door and admit 'I can't support my family, I can't feed my kids,'" Davis said.
Nourish also has a hamper program specifically for seniors, which has seen a large amount of demand.
"In their time, they probably have given to the food bank and now things are reversed," Davis said. "Our funding's running out in MArch so they won't get the kind of extra consideration we've given them." Some of those extra considerations include having fresh vegetables available for seniors, which was possible due to funding through United Way. But, Davis assured Nourish would definitely still be looking after Quesnel's seniors who need them.
"I watch and I see people don't see seniors, they knock them down, they step in front of them," Davis said. She said Nourish wants to ensure the people who have given so much and seen so much throughout their lives aren't forgotten about if they are in need of a bit of food.
Nourish has leapt at the chance to go to different events to help raise awareness, collect donations and importantly boost its base of volunteers. The organization is also planning to increase their social media presence after Davis learned about how it helped other food banks boost their numbers at a conference.
"The from Quesnel has been- I'm speechless. They've been so generous and it just seems to keep rolling in," Davis said. But after the holiday season things tend to get more difficult for food banks. "As soon as Christmas is over, it's like 'okay, now we're facing reality again.'"
Nourish also works with other organizations in Quesnel like Green Hope and CSUN, "the whole goal is we all work together. We all want to achieve the same thing," Davis said.
Students from Correlieu, hockey players and all sorts of other people take time to help out Nourish when they are able, including in their jingle campaign which recently wrapped up.
People who would like to support Nourish's mission can donate online at northernbc.cmha.ca/nourish-food-bank. They can also go to that website to sign up to volunteer and help keep the food bank running.
"It doesn't matter how small it is. If everybody can donate even just one thing that would really help. And being aware when they have something a little extra that there are people that are struggling," Davis said.
Those who would like to donate food items can go to their office at 101 Marsh Drive where Davis tends to be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. five days a week. Cheques to the organization should be made out to CMHA and people are eligible for a tax receipt if they donate.
"Sometimes I cry twice a day with the generous donations that come in," Davis said.
