Campbell River Food Bank patrons will soon have a roof over their heads while they wait in line for service thanks to the generosity of local residents and businesses.
An 80-foot long covered walkway will ensure people are no longer forced to stand outside in the freezing cold, rain and snow until they can get inside the Food Bank.
The walkway, which will be walled in and make the line-ups less visible from the street, will have three windows and three doors – two facing the street and one at the north end of the walkway, closest to Marwalk Crescent.
The project has been spearheaded by Jeff Goodwin, who hopes to have the walkway complete and functional by Monday.
“We’re getting ready now to do the framing, so I’m calling on all builders to come down and donate a day to frame it,” Goodwin said.
“My son plays for the Bantam A hockey team so we’re going to get the players to come down on the weekend and help out.”
Goodwin took it upon himself to fix up the Food Bank after seeing the condition of the building first hand.
As a Shaw employee, Goodwin picked up and dropped off curbside Food Bank donations during the company’s Harvest the River campaign last October.
“As I dropped off food here, I noticed this place is a dump inside,” Goodwin said.
“I used to build houses on the side so I figured I could pick up a few trades men on the cheap and get this place re-built for hardly anything.”
Ann and George Minosky, administrators of the Food Bank, told Goodwin the most pressing need was for a covered holding area for the 200-250 people who line up each day to use the Food Bank.
“It’s taken 11 months to get the engineer drawings done, get a permit application approved by the city and to gather all my trades contacts,” Goodwin said.
His hard work, and the generous donations from local businesses are paying off. Soon phase one, which is the walkway, will be complete and phase two – gutting the inside – should get underway next February.
“The way it is right now, it’s old and inefficient,” Goodwin said. “George wants to have people be able to line-up and go in one door and out the other. We’re also going to upgrade the freezers, upgrade the shelving; just completely renovate the inside and make it nicer.”
Goodwin also plans to close in the loading dock and holding bays, plus add an additional 600 feet of storage space.
He hopes to have the entire project finished by March 2012.
“It’s just been awesome so far, considering the state of our economy,” Goodwin said.
“We’ve had $6,000 in donations so far from businesses.”
Anyone willing and able to help complete the walkway this weekend can contact Goodwin at (250) 287-0746.
The following companies have helped with renovations which are free of charge to the Minoskys: Glacier Gutters, Seymour Pacific, C&L Rentals, McElhaney Surveying, Heidema Engineering, Joey Falsetti, Barclay Excavating, Windsor Mill Sales, Windsor Plywood, CBS Doors, Home Depot, Andrew Sheret, Island Cement, Glenn Worth Contracting, Van Isle Roofing and Save On Foods.