NDG Food Depot gets new lease on life

The NDG Food Depot has found a new home after months of uncertainty brought on by the announcement that its current locale, Trinity Anglican Memorial Church, was closing.

It was announced in December that Trinity would close in 2017 due to a lack of "financial sustainability" and the food depot, which has taken up residence in its basement, would need to leave.

The church still hasn't closed, but the administration at the depot is breathing easier now that a new space has been found.

The new location is at the corner ofSomerledAvenue andCavendishBoulevard. It's not clear when the move will happen.

"It's an old restaurant located in the Fielding-Walkley neighbourhood. Fielding-Walkey is NDG's largest food desert,"the depot's executive director, Daniel Rotman, said.

He said that 40 per cent of people in theFielding-Walkeyarealive below the poverty line, making it a prime spot for the depot.

"It's a very vulnerable and big sector and we happen to be in the heart of it," he said.

The new location is a solution, but a temporary onetheir lease is only for three years and the space isn't big enough to house their administrative team.

But Rotmansaid it gives the organization the time to find a permanent solution.

• NDG Food Depot celebrates 30 years of feeding the community

"[It]give us the space and time to be able to build or renovate something that fits with the long-term vision of the organization," he said.

The NDG Food Depot has been helping the community for the past 31 years. It offers emergency food baskets, free meals and cooking classes, among other things.