Third food bank opens in Lindsay to try and meet community need

Earlier this week community members and volunteers gathered at Calvary Pentecostal Church to open Lindsay’s third food bank — the Lindsay Community Food Market.
The Lindsay Community Food Market opens today at the church at 125 Victoria Ave. N and will regularly be open Mondays from 9 am to Noon, Thursdays from 4-6 pm, and Saturdays from 10 am to Noon. Once registered, clients are assigned market dollars and can drop in during operating hours to shop.
The Centre of Hope food bank in downtown Lindsay is open Tuesday through Friday, four days a week. It is affiliated with Kawartha Lakes Food Source. The other food bank is run by the Salvation Army on Peel Street and is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Kawartha Lakes Food Source (KLFS) General Manager Heather Kirby says the hours chosen for Lindsay’s third food bank were “strategically chosen” to be open at times when the other two were not, in order to meet community need.
It was just a few months ago when the Kinmount and Area Food Bank officially opened to the public Dec. 13, serving 45 families, based on a schedule that alternates with the Coboconk Food Bank. It started up when Food Source was given funding to open two new locations, with Kinmount and this latest one in Lindsay chosen as the locations.
Kirby said at the time that, “We have mixed feelings about the opening of a new food bank. While we are very excited and overwhelmed by the community support, the opening of a food bank confirms that there are still many who are food insecure. Our goal is to serve clients in their own community and ensure that access to food is easier.”
Today, Kirby says at the core of what Food Source does is to provide resources for those in need.
“We’re not celebrating the need in the community, but we are celebrating the great support from the community to make this happen. At the end of the day, our aim is to ensure there’s something on someone’s plate…to remove as many barriers to that as possible.”
Food Source’s Capacity Boost Coordinator Leah Anderson says the new food bank is called “the Lindsay Community Food Market because we want our name to convey that it is like coming to the grocery store.”
“Clients will shop our shelves, choosing their own foods.”
The shopping model is all about giving clients choices, increasing client dignity and respecting people. For more information about registration or our market, dollars contact the Food Market at