Booze ban City adopts zero-tolerance policy for out-of-bounds alcohol. PAGE 7 Dragon sighting Annual festival churns up harbour waters on weekend. PAGE 19 History lesson Performers tell how fiddle music arrived in Canada. PAGE 3
Marathon game PAGE 5
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TUESDAY, JULY 3, 2012
VOL. 24, NO. 28
Food bank eyes future I
STRATEGIC PLAN helps meet needs of city’s hungry.
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Popular ridges closed to public by DND order BY TOBY GORMAN
BY MELISSA FRYER
THE NEWS BULLETIN
THE NEWS BULLETIN
Every week, someone new will shuffle through the door, eyes downcast, with shoulders hunched in embarrassment. “They can’t believe it’s come to this,” said Peter Sinclair, executive director of Loaves and Fishes Community Food Bank. One of the eight locations for food pickup in the community will see new clients – people who are recently unemployed, laid off or facing an unexpected health issue. But Sinclair hopes with changes to food bank distribution, administration and client services that one day he won’t have a job to go to at the food bank. “We shouldn’t be here,” Sinclair said. “We’re here because there’s a problem in the community.” About six months ago, the board, which oversees operation of the non-profit society, began implementing its strategic plan. Looking at the big picture is often a challenge while meeting the day-to-day needs of clients, Sinclair said. “We want to keep our eye on where we want to be two to three years from now,” Sinclair said. “The most tangible one is the community garden out back.” The food bank secured a grant to hire a summer stu-
MELISSA FRYER/THE NEWS BULLETIN
Jesse Alexander transforms the back lot at Loaves and Fishes Community Food Bank on Farquhar Street into a community garden, using materials donated by Nanaimo businesses. The garden is just one way the food bank is creating a more positive atmosphere for clients.
dent, Jesse Alexander, to build garden boxes at the rear of the Farquhar location. “We showed him a big, concrete space and said, ‘transform it’,” Sinclair said. “In three weeks, there’s plants.” Alexander, a geography student at Vancouver Island University with a construction background, secured donations of lumber, soil and plants for the project. “The community’s been pretty helpful,” he said. The produce grown from the garden might not make a dent in the food budget, but add-
ing greenspace and a place for clients to sit and talk is invaluable at treating people as humanely as possible. “It’s not just food it produces,” Sinclair said. The food bank also changed distribution to two weeks instead of one, allowing the organization to buy in bigger volume, like four-litre jugs of milk instead of two. “There’s significant cost savings there, while providing more milk for our clients,” Sinclair said. It also reduces congestion at the community distribution locations, which are up
to eight, including a Saturday option for people who work during the week. A new software system allows the organization to see how many people are in a household and provide food accordingly. Previously, a family received the same amount of food whether there was one child or several. Partnering with other nonprofit community organizations, like FoodShare and Nanaimo Women’s Resource Centre, helps connect food with people who need it. ◆ See ‘FOOD’ /4
The Department of National Defence will be cracking down on hikers, runners and mountain bikers who illegally trespass on its property behind Westwood Lake by issuing tickets and even laying charges. Sara Helmeczi, spokeswoman for CFB Esquimalt, said the DND is taking a tougher stand to protect the public from potential harm. The military and RCMP use the land as a rifle range, which requires a large buffer zone to guard against stray bullets. DND trespass signs and barbed wire have been stolen or removed over the last several years, resulting in illegal trail building and increased public infiltration into the area. “We’re not changing our policy, the land has always been DND property and it has always been illegal to trespass on it,” said Helmeczi. “They were never open, they were never official trails. We’ve had signs up for years but they keep getting stolen, so we’re not putting up new signs, we’re just replacing the ones that are missing.” Because of the dangers and the increase in trespassing, more military police will be patrolling the property and issuing fines and tickets. “It’s a rifle range so safety is our No. 1 concern. We can’t have people wandering back there not knowing they’re getting close to that range because military activities can start up at any moment,” she said. The sudden crackdown came as a surprise to Nanaimo’s running, hiking and mountain bike communities. ◆ See ‘DECISION’ ‘ /6
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