Blizzard freezes Feed Nova Scotia food bank deliveries

Feed Nova Scotia's five food delivery trucks stayed parkedMondayas a strong blizzard barrelled through the province.

Executive director Nick Jennery said the charity delivers more than 7,000 kilograms offood to about 147 individual food banks and meal programsacross the province every day.

"We take our cue from theRCMPand those in positions of authority to say look, it's just unsafe to be on the roads," he said. "We don't challenge that. Safety comes first."

'It was a good call'

Feed Nova Scotia usually needs to pull its drivers off the roads three times a winter,Jennerysaid.

A number of food banks were unable to open at allMondayand would not have been able to receive a delivery.

"It was a good call on their part because we couldn't do anything with the food," said BrianVandervaart, co-ordinator of the food bank at Darmouth's First Baptist Church.

"We couldn't get to the church to unpack the truck so they would have been stuck perhaps."

Food bank managers 'incredibly resourceful'

Vandervaartacknowledged the difficulty a storm of this severity could have on the 40 to 60 people the food bank helps biweekly.

"It'll be unfortunate for them this week,"he said.

Jennerysaid he was considering helping the food banks that couldn't get deliveries withgift cards.

"One of the things about those who manage food banks and shelters is they're incredibly resourceful," he said.

• Blizzard shuts down most of Nova Scotia, cancels all flights out until Tuesday
• Feed Nova Scotia tries to use food wasted at grocery stores