The Fort Sask food bank just got a huge upgrade in storage capacity.
Through a Food Banks Canada grant, the food bank received $27,890 to purchase two new refrigerators and one new freezer.
"They were delivered just before Christmas," said Kassandra Gartner, the executive director of the food bank. "We had to have an electrician come in and put some extra plugs in, but we are really grateful to have it done and ready."
The new units will double the food bank's existing refrigeration storage as well as increase their existing freezer space by a third.
The hope is that this will help with food recovery.
"We have basic staple items that we purchase every week to include into our hampers," said Gartner. "In order to increase the variety and quantity of what we put in, we partner with restaurants, grocers, wholesalers, and suppliers to really increase the contents of the fresh items."
"This really gives us space and opportunity to go after those larger donations."
Not only will this extra space help out the local food bank, but also share the wealth with the surrounding rural food banks as well.
"It allows us to help the rural food banks around us," said Gartner. "We now have the facilities and the capacity to accept larger donations that we can share with the Redwater, Gibbons, Lamont, and Strathcona County food banks as needed."
Getting these units in time for January has been very important, as the first month of the year is usually the busiest.
That is no exception this year.
"It's been really busy," said Gartner. "We're doing almost 60 hampers per day."
Currently, the food bank is in need of jam and canned fruit. Donations can be made by dropping them off at their location.