Kicked to the curb, the NDG Food Depot found a new home and moved in a week

MONTREAL—After 20 years on Oxford St., the NDG Food Depot has a new temporary home.

It's been a challenge for staff and volunteers to get everything ready to move by Monday afternoon, bound for a new space on Cote-St-Antoine Rd.

It wasn't easy finding a new space for the food depot. About a week ago, the non-profit found out it would have to be out of the Oxford St. location by April 1. Originally the landlord had given them until June to find a new place, but went back on the agreement.

Shane Theriault and Karolina Kalivoda often donate food and supplies to the food depot. On Saturday morning, they knocked on the door. They hadn’t heard the news that the depot was moving.

“I’m kind of shocked, I really hope the new location is as great as this location,” said Theriault.

Bonnie Soutar works at the depot. She says it was a challenge to find a new place and pack everything up, in a single week.

“Luckily we've had so many volunteers, yesterday we had scheduled some volunteers but many, many more people showed up,” said Soutar.

An outpouring of support from local groups will keep the non-profit functioning. The St-Philip's Church in Montreal West and the Wesley United Church in Notre-Dame-de-Grace will help store non-perishable food items.

The River's Edge Community Church will serve as the new temporary home of the depot.

“It's a large space, and we have a little bit of office space where everybody could go,” said Soutar. “We have the same heart and our idea is to make an impact in the community.”

John Sorrell is the youth pastor at River's Edge. He says the depot can use space in the basement for as long as they need it.

“We have three refrigerators, we have stoves and we have cooking utensils. Anything they need, they can use,” said Sorrell.

The depot will do its final move into the church on Monday. Emergency food distribution will not resume until April 16. The schedule will also change; it will be Tuesday’s and Friday’s instead of Monday’s and Thursday’s

“They actually serve a hot meal, a community meal and they usually have 60-80 people that come Monday's and Thursday's so we didn't want to clash with their schedules,” said Soutar.

After 20 years at the Oxford St. location it will be difficult for many at the NDG Food Depot to move on. But luckily for the hundreds of people who use their services every week, their new temporary location is only three blocks away.