Trent Lakes is taking a deeper look into creating a food cupboard in partnership with the Buckhorn Lions Club.
At the Tuesday afternoon council meeting, Janet Clarkson, President of the Buckhorn Lions Club gave a delegation requesting council’s support in principle for the creation of a food cupboard at the north side of the equipment room at the sports pad at the Buckhorn Community Centre (BCC). Clarkson explained that this food cupboard would be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week.
She went on to say that to do this, they would need some slight renovations including the installation of a self-closing door that locks automatically. However, she has already secured commitments from Tecasy Ranch and Buckhorn Sand and Gravel to provide assistance with the renovation costs and materials.
Clarkson went on to say that she has been in talks with many community members and organizations who are excited about this opportunity. However, nothing has been set in stone yet as they await to hear council’s feedback and if they support the initiative.
She stated that the Buckhorn Lions Club would like to see this as a partnership model between the club and the municipality as they will need to secure the use of the building, snow removal and waste disposal while the club is prepared to staff the cupboard with volunteers - two a day for one hour to clean and restock shelves.
Coun. John Braybrook said that this was a fantastic potential initiative but asked if Clarkson could provide more detail on other similar programs and what challenges they faced so they may consider that when making a decision. He also asked her if she had consulted with the existing foodbank or Community Care to ensure they were no overlaps or negative impacts from resource sharing.
Clarkson said that yes she has been in talks with those organizations and wanted to ensure council that this project would be in addition to those services already provided in the community – not in competition with them.
She explained that with the open door policy and the hours of operation, this food cupboard would allow for residents who may not otherwise be able to access traditional sources.
Braybrook also asked if the Lions Club would carry they insurance for this or if the municipality would be responsible. Clarkson said that the club did have an automatic $5M insurance policy that would cover this. However staff noted that there may be issues with the club covering the project and they would need to do more research on if that was possible.
Deputy Mayor Carol Armstrong said that she likes the idea and believes it complements the current outreach program but felt she needed more details before she gave her support for the program.
She asked if the Lions had been in contact with the BCC about their support. Clarkson said that she had not been able to make it onto their agenda yet however has talked to members one-on-one and got varying responses from very supportive to very opposed.
Armstrong made a motion to refer this to staff to look into the feasibility and the requirements for supporting this request moving forward and to do so as quickly as their workload allows.
This was seconded by Coun. Joe Cadigan.
Chief Building Official, Barbra Waldron cautioned council that the idea of minimal work and renovations may not be the case in this situation. She said that staff have not had the chance to review the building yet and there could be potential for new fire separations or emergency lighting in addition to the renovations for the new door.
Mayor Lambshead said that if you don’t get things done together, this may not get done until next year. He said that it was important to work in conjunction to move things forward and said he would like to see support in principle added to the motion. This was not accepted by the mover.
Coun. Peter Franzen asked for a friendly amendment to the motion to include written comments from the BCC in the staff report that was to come back to council. This was accepted and incorporated into the motion.
There was a recorded vote with all in favour expect for Mayor Lambshead who stated he was in support of the concept but only voted against the motion because he wanted to support the idea in principle as well.