Kitchen renovations at Orillia food bank ramp up meal program
After three years of meticulous planning and hard work, the Sharing Place in Orillia kitchen renovations are complete, generating thousands of healthy meals.
For the past month, staff have been making meals free of charge out of their new kitchen for people in need in the community.
Although the meal program has been taking place for three years now at St. James Church, the team at the Sharing Place says having their own space to cook has been a considerable benefit.
- Download the CTV News app free to get updates and alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates sent to your email inbox
"Since open, everything's been going really smoothly," said Zachary Vaillancourt, executive chef at the Sharing Place. "Before the kitchen was open itself, we were doing about 300 to 500 meals and in the month that we've been open, we've been able to double it doing a little over a thousand meals a week."
Vaillancourt said he uses the donated foods and raw ingredients to the best of his ability to make healthy meals that people can easily enjoy.
"Some of our clients who access the food bank aren't able to cook for themselves in that sense or don't have access to a place where they're able to cook. Today, we're doing honey roasted garlic red chicken and egg fried rice," said Vaillancourt.
Volunteers involved say the response from individuals receiving the meals has been overwhelming.
The newly renovated kitchen at The Sharing Place in Orillia, Ont. (CTV News/Molly Frommer)
"I wanted to volunteer because I've seen what a big impact this place has on my community, and I wanted to be a part of it. We get calls from people saying how much it helps them and just the feeling you get when you receive those calls," said volunteer Kolton Ditchburn.
"Handing out the meals free of charge is really good. I work up at the front, so I hand out the meals, so I get a lot of good comments on how good the meals are and everything," said volunteer Karen Low-on.
Executive director of the Sharing Place, Chris Peacock, said with inflation, the timing of the completed kitchen renovations could not be better.
"A lot of dual-income families now are sitting in a position where they're not able to fill their kid's lunch boxes. So, we're hoping that we can continue to get support from our community and support over 18 per cent of our community in low-income, and that was a stat before inflationary times in 2021. We know that that is only going to get worse, and we need to be here for those individuals," Peacock said.
Officials at the Sharing Place say by Christmas they hope to double the number of meals made to 2,000.
Staff are also looking to bring on roughly a dozen more volunteers.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
They were due to leave for their dream cruise in May. Three months on they’re still stuck at the departure port
It was the years-long cruise that was supposed to set sail, but saw its departure postponed… postponed… and postponed again.
Ontario's first domestic case of human rabies since 1967 confirmed in Brant County
An Ontario resident remains in hospital after testing positive for rabies.
How to get a whole city to stop lawn watering? Experts say praise over punishment
For almost two weeks, a city of 1.6 million people has been told once again to stop watering lawns, take three-minute showers, hold off on laundry and dishes, and let the yellow in their toilets mellow.
4-year-old drowns in backyard pool on Montreal's South Shore
The lifeless body of a child was discovered in a residential swimming pool in Longueuil, on Montreal's South Shore, late on Friday afternoon.
Trudeau insists he's staying on as Liberal leader. But what if he changes his mind?
The Liberal caucus is set to meet in Nanaimo, B.C., next week for a retreat ahead of the fall parliamentary sitting. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insists he will lead his party into the next election despite polls citing his unpopularity among Canadians. Here's a look at what would happen if he decided to call it quits.
Ridley Scott rebuilds Rome for 'Gladiator II'
Scott, Hollywood's perpetual rolling stone even at age 86, may be preparing to unveil 'Gladiator II,' one of his biggest epics yet, but at the moment he's got the Bee Gees on the brain. Scott is developing a biopic on the Gibb brothers. On a recent Zoom call from his office in Los Angeles, he was surrounded by meticulously plotted storyboards.
Two astronauts are left behind in space as Boeing's troubled capsule returns to Earth empty
Boeing's first astronaut mission ended Friday night with an empty capsule landing and two test pilots still in space, left behind until next year because NASA judged their return too risky.
Despite union protest, new hybrid work rules for federal employees kick in Monday
Public service unions will start the week with an early-morning rally opposing the policy. But despite the unions' 'summer of discontent' and an ongoing court challenge, the new rules will still kick in on Sept. 9.
Georgia school shooting suspect was troubled by a broken family, taunting at school, his father said
Both Colt, 14, and Colin Gray, 54, are charged in the killings of two students and two teachers Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, outside Atlanta.