London Food Bank celebrates 40th anniversary

The London Food Bank will be marking its 40th anniversary of helping those in need in our community. CTV London’s Nick Paparella reports.

Over the past 40 years the London Food Bank has seen plenty of changes, however the main aim remains the same, to help those in need in our community.

The two co-founders Jane Roy and Glen Pearson are still with the food bank, now acting as co-executive directors.

“In October 1986 imagine us in 600 sq. ft. on Dundas Street and we served 360 families a month,” said Roy. “Today we have 22,000 sq. ft., thirteen staff members, walk-in freezers and we serve fifty-seven hundred families a month.”

The food bank was initially meant to be temporary but that changed over time with Roy saying, “Back 1986 or 1987, CTV or A Channel or whatever it was did a piece on hidden hunger and that’s when we understood that there was two London’s and we started to understand there was a greater need.”

Along the way, Glen Pearson says the London Food Bank has been able to obtain an army of helpers.

“We have four thousand volunteers and that would stand out in anybody’s book and we don’t go out and recruit them,” says Pearson “They just come in because these are citizens who want to play their role in these troubling times.”

To mark the 40 years, the community is invited to come out to the Leathorne Street facility on Saturday, Oct. 3 starting at 11 a.m.

Roy says they want people to come on in and they’d like to show them around and show them what happens.

The Celebration coincides with the 38 annual Thanksgiving Food Drive which got underway Thurday.

“The drive lasts until Thanksgiving Monday,” said Roy. “There’s no goal but whatever people can give, a can of tuna or a bag of groceries can be dropped off at any grocery store or fire hall.”

The London Food Bank has grown to become is one of the most successful in Canada mainly due to the generosity of the London community.

“When you think of what the Business Cares community has done with over a thousand businesses it’s amazing,” said Pearson. “I can tell you with every challenge that we face, every pandemic or recession we don’t sit around and worry because Londoners will hear about that and they will support their food bank because it’s about them.”