New $16M food bank facility now serving community in Nanaimo and beyond

A brand new food bank facility, the Tom Harris Regional Food Centre, is officially open in Nanaimo. 

The new facility is being run by Loaves and Fishes Community Food Bank, who work to expand food recovery and access across Vancouver Island and the BC coast. 

Tom Harris Regional Food Centre was officially opened on Wednesday, October 28th at 1861 East Wellington Road in Nanaimo. 

In attendance at the ribbon cutting ceremony were Mayor Leonard Krog, members of Nanaimo city council, MLA-elect Sheila Malcolmson, community leaders, funders and volunteers. 

The new 24,000-square-foot facility effectively replaces the food bank’s former Fry Street warehouse, which had long been outgrown by the organization. 

According to Loaves and Fishes, the increased warehouse, cold storage and distribution capacity will make it easier to recover more food and move it to the more than 15,000 people it serves. 

The food bank collects good, surplus food from grocery stores, wholesalers and producers that would otherwise go to landfill. It then sorts it and gets it out to people quickly. 

The organization says that as their recovery program grew, they reached a point where food was being turned away because there was nowhere to store or sort it. 

“This building gives us room to do more of what we already know works,” said Peter Sinclair, executive director of Loaves and Fishes Community Food Bank. 

“Our team has built a lean, efficient food recovery operation and real logistical expertise in moving large volumes of food quickly, from our warehouse to remote coastal communities.”

The Tom Harris Regional Food Centre cost a total of $16 million.

Loaves and Fishes says this was made possible through $7 million in funding from the Province, $5 million from the federal government via PacifiCan and the $1.3 million land purchase from the City of Nanaimo. 

Additional donors to this project included the Tom Harris Community Foundation, the Hazelwood Group of Companies and the Regional District of Nanaimo. 

Loaves and Fishes noted that many other community organizations and individual donors contributed toward specialized equipment and operating funds. 

The new food bank hub was named in honour of the late Tom Harris who had a longstanding legacy of community giving in Nanaimo and beyond. 

“My father believed deeply in helping people and in strengthening the community that gave so much to our family,” said Tony Harris, founder and chair of the Tom Harris Community Foundation.

“Seeing his name on this building, and knowing how much food will move through it every day, is something he would have been very proud of.”

He added that Loaves and Fishes’ work to help people preserve their dignity while feeding their families is critical to the community of Nanaimo and all of Vancouver Island.