The Rimbey Food Bank will be giving the community a look inside its new and upgraded space in an open house tour Oct. 17.
"We just felt like the community should see what we did because we renovated the front space for Neighbourhood Place, because we took over the back of the building for the food bank and added an addition to it for the food bank storage," said Misty Griffith, executive director for Rimbey Community Home Help Services.
On top of the tours, they will also be talking a bit about the renovation of the kitchen, which they are hoping to make into an educational space.
"Hopefully, we can do some community cooking education and maybe some things for food bank clients, for parents and kids, and working together with Neighbourhood Place on a few programs and activities," said Griffith.
The food bank used to be located in the Nazarene Church, and moved into its new spot last October.
The old food bank location was located in the basement of the church, which was dark and had lots of stairs.
"With the increased demand for hampers, those stairs were becoming a little challenging," said Griffith adding that one of their board members approached the town, who had taken over Neighbourhood Place, to see if they could move over there as there was no stairs.
The move came just before the Christmas hampers last year, providing a brighter, more welcoming space.
With some food banks currently struggling to fill the shelves, Griffith says the Rimbey Food Bank is in a really good space thanks to community support.
"We started off pretty good financially because of some larger donations in the past that we had some savings we were able to put into the building and into food and to keep our food bank going, so between volunteers and community support we're actually doing really well," she said, adding that she's hopeful they can keep going like this.
The number of hampers has actually increased since 2021, and have now stabilized, fluctuating depending on the month.
The open house runs from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. for tours. There will also be some speeches and appetizers.
