Grey Bruce Food Share has expanded capacity thanks to a new facility in Owen Sound.
Food Share is operating out of a new downtown headquarters at 263 10th St. East.
Grey Bruce Poverty Task Force Coordinator Jill Umbach said the food distribution hub is led by OSHaRE and the Salvation Army Owen Sound.
"OSHaRE has been the agency running our food rescue program, which is a food that is diverted from grocery stores and that is then processed, cleaned, sorted and then redistributed out to a variety of organizations across Grey Bruce," Umbach pointed out.
The new larger facility means they will be able to process more food to redistribute to organizations that offer meal programs or food banks.
"So we're really thrilled that OSHaRE and Salvation Army has a new physical location that is set up just for the food rescue coming in and making it available to agencies and organizations that are involved in community food programs, food cupboard and food bank," said Umbach.
Umbach explained that grocery stores quickly replace items on the shelves to display their best products, and that is good news for food programs.
"So it's moved off the shelf and put into what would normally have gone into food waste. It was recognize that grocery stores were spending millions of dollars on food waste, on dumping fees and things like that and it was perfectly good food," she added. "What we are doing right now is diverting that food from going into compost or waste and putting it back on the shelves."
She says donations come from a large number variety of sources.
"Some of them coming from farmers donating. A large bulk of food comes in from places like Foodland, Sobeys, Loblaws, Food Basics, Shoppers, and so on," she continued. "So we've got a huge number of grocery stores that have signed on to national programs and then locally, the local stores are involved."
The new larger location replaces the service that was provide at OSHaRE headquarters. And now OSHaRE will have more space for the various meal programs provided there.