The Mustard Seed Street Church is putting out a call for $200,000 to help meet its food-services budget as donations lag from previous years.
The request comes as the church, which operates Vancouver Island’s largest food bank, prepares to open 13,500 square feet of warehouse space next month. That initiative is expected to double the amount of donations coming in from supermarkets and social agencies in 2017 and thus assist more people in need.
Every month, the Mustard Seed distributes 2,200 food hampers, which serve 5,000 individuals.
Volunteers are needed to work in the warehouse, Allan Lingwood, church director of development, said Wednesday. More volunteers enable the agency to take in more food.
The Queens Avenue church’s key programs are the food bank, Hope Farm Healing Centre, a family resource centre for single parents and a hospitality program aimed at the street community. It has a small congregation of about 50 people.
For the 2016-2017 fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2017, the church’s entire budget is $3 million, Lingwood said. The food-service component of that is $1 million.
To date, $1.5 million in donations has come in overall, he said.
But when it comes to the food-program portion of the budget, “We are generally behind in fundraising by roughly $210,000 from this time last year,” he said.
So far, donations directed to the food program stand at $262,000, Lingwood said.
Donations to the church also help make up the food budget, he said. Typically, half of the money for food services comes in via directed donations, with the rest from church funds, he said.
The Times Colonist Christmas Fund provides money to the Mustard Seed, the Salvation Army and Our Place.
Donations can be made at mustardseed.ca/donate-to-the-mustard-seed. Contributors can choose whether to donate to the church and all its programs, or to specific programs, such as the food service.
The new warehouse at 808 Viewfield Rd. in Esquimalt will be the food-distribution hub for the Mustard Seed and about 40 other social agencies, which together serve about 20,000 people.
Major food donors are Thrifty Foods, Country Grocer, Whole Foods and the LifeCycles Project Society.
About 1.75 million pounds of food were donated this year.
Lingwood anticipates that once the warehouse opens, donations will climb to 3.5 million pounds annually as capacity increases and big donors are able to send more food. Warehouse improvements were funded by the Victoria Foundation, Greater Victoria Rotary clubs and Thrifty Foods, he said.
“The fact is, there are way more hungry people out there than most people realize,” said Derek Pace, food-security manager at the Mustard Seed. “The exciting thing is that we are implementing innovation solutions to meet that challenge.”
A social agency report found that 30,000 people in the capital region are chronically food insecure. Groups initially targeted to receive assistance from the expansion are school-aged children, seniors, people with a disability and First Nations, the Mustard Seed said.
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Please give to the Times Colonist Christmas Fund
Since 1956, this newspaper has collected money to benefit the less fortunate. Last year, through the Christmas Fund, we raised and distributed about $320,000, and we hope to beat that total this year. We work with the Salvation Army and the Mustard Seed, which handle the disbursement of most of the funds, and also provide financial help to Our Place.
To donate, go online to: timescolonist.com/donate. You will be directed to a Canada Helps donation form; once you make your donation, a tax receipt will be provided immediately.
Or mail a cheque, payable to the Times Colonist Christmas Fund Society, to the Times Colonist Christmas Fund, 2621 Douglas St., Victoria, V8T 4M2.
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