When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived back in March 2020, there was too much uncertainty in Sudbury to keep all the food banks open.
Service was cut back and the New Sudbury food bank at 1169 Dollard Ave. was one of the first locations to feel the pinch.
Jennifer Grooms, executive director of Inner-City Home of Sudbury, said the Dollard location had the hours cut back dramatically.
"So with COVID we kind of went from 120 volunteers to 30 for two locations,” she said. “So we just couldn't manage both locations. So we reduced the hours here, but we still understand the great need that this location has. So we have been delivering to some families in this area, but it was still not accessible when they needed it.”
Grooms said many of the food bank volunteers were senior citizens, possibly vulnerable because no vaccines were available at the time. She said there was no question about the need to cut back the service back in 2020.
It left hundreds of families in a bind, she said, because people were suddenly forced to go to downtown Sudbury to access that food bank. She said it was not an easy thing to do for people who could not afford a vehicle or bus fare.
Grooms said many families were clearly worried because they were not fully aware of the situation or how it would affect them.
"There was concern and there was fear. I mean, so many of our folks faced fear at that time, because there were no cars on the road, the businesses were closed, and a lot of people didn't know what was going on.
“Because they're not plugged in a lot of the time either, right? So they don't have access to social media. They don't have those kinds of things," said Grooms.
She said Inner-City spent time educating many clients on what options were still available to them in terms of accessing food supplies and other social services during the pandemic.
Grooms said that the Inner-City board of directors recently suggested that it was time to look at reopening the New Sudbury location.
"It wasn't very difficult because we've kept it up as we've gone along, because we always intended on reopening it," said Grooms.
At the reopening event held Tuesday, Inner-City president Joe Drago thanked the board for supporting the decision to reopen the facility. He also thanked the volunteers who actually staff the food bank and work closely with the families needing help.
"We're so happy this is happening, because a lot of these people will now be able to come here to pick up food rather than trying to get downtown," he said. Drago said the demand is ongoing and that people still need groceries.
Drago said the financially challenged people living along the Lasalle corridor in New Sudbury are primarily families and getting to the Dollard Avenue location is significantly easier for them. The newly reopened location will be open once a week, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Tuesdays, he said.
