Langley Food Bank says thousands could be impacted if they don’t find a new home

LANGLEY (NEWS 1130) – Langley’s food bank could soon be homeless and families could go hungry after the building that housed the charity was sold.

Director Denise Darrell says they’ve been on the hunt for more than a year once they were told the building was for sale, but it hasn’t been easy.

“There’s an assumption that we wouldn’t pay rent, and we do,” adds Darrell. “And the face of the food bank has changed. You see all the lineups all the time and people making assumption that those are people who are unemployed and what we’re seeing is the working poor.”

She says many don’t want to see a food bank in their neighbourhood.

“It’s been very difficult, we have to look at zoning, the specific zoning and there is, unfortunately, some nimbyism going on which everyone doesn’t think a food bank makes a good neighbour.”

She says looking for a space that works for them is also difficult, noting they would need anywhere between 5,000 and 6,000 square feet of warehousing as well as a storefront for distribution. “We pride ourselves in the fact that when we do a distribution, it’s sort of like a shopping experience.”

She says the food bank services up to a thousand families a week.

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