Niverville Helping Hands grows into new space on Main Street

After more than 30 years at the same location, Niverville Helping Hands is changing its address.

Board Chair, Larissa Sandulak tells us they are moving out of the basement of the Niverville Community Fellowship church and relocating to 101-106 Main Street in Niverville in August, because their current needs aren’t being met.  

“The current space doesn't allow our teams of volunteers to move and work freely. Because we're in the basement, we also have some accessibility issues for our clients and some of our volunteers. So yeah, we are needing to move, because we're basically running out of room."

Sandulak says over the last three years the food bank has experienced a lot of growth.  

“Three years ago, we were serving about 20 families every two weeks, and now we're serving 45 to 50 families every two weeks.” The reason being is that “We’re finding there's just more need. Everybody's prices are up, there's a lot of unemployment and layoffs happened throughout the year, and we just had a lot of new families moving to our communities as well.” 

In the past six months alone the Niverville Helping Hands Food Bank has consistently received 3-5 new family hamper applications each month. 

Sandulak notes that historically they have given out hampers on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of every month. Families apply by phone or online to request one and then pick it up between 5:30-6:30 on the scheduled day. Then on Hamper Pick-up day, 3-5 volunteers meet to pack the 45+ hampers before pick-up begins, but because of their cramped quarters, Sandulak says, they are restocking the shelves while packing up hampers just to keep up, which she says is very inefficient and exhausting for the volunteers.

Newly dropped of donations ready for placing onto the shelves of an already cramped Niverville Helping Hands Food Bank. 

Sandulak says everyone is excited about the move to their new location and describes what it’s like inside.

“First of all, it’s visible. In the basement of our current church, a lot of people don't even know that we exist because we're kind of tucked away. So, we're going to be right on Main Street, very visible to everybody, and it's just a bright open space that allows everybody more room to walk and work and all those good things.”

She notes to help them get there, they are looking for volunteers to help pack up and move items to their new location. Moving dates are Tuesday, July 25 and Thursday, August 3. Shifts starts at 6pm. Individuals are needed to pack boxes, carry boxes upstairs, load and unload trucks at the new location. 

Niverville Helping Hands serves individuals and families who reside primarily in Niverville, but also in New Bothwell, Otterburne, and Ste. Agathe. Non-perishable food donations can be made at the food bank as well as at Our Grocery People in Niverville.

The next hamper pick-up day will be from the new location on Thursday, August 10.