National Accreditation Opens Doors for Fort Frances Food Bank

The Salvation Army food bank in Fort Frances, Ontario, was recently awarded national accreditation from Food Banks Canada through its Standards of Excellence initiative. The Food Banks Canada National Standards set guidelines in areas such as client service, operations and safe food handling to ensure the highest health and safety standards are met for the benefit of clients.

“Food Banks Canada accreditation for the Salvation Army Food Bank in Fort Frances is tangible evidence that we take food security very seriously,” Auxiliary Captain Arthur Heathcote told local radio station 93.1 The Border. “Feeding the hungry is not only our biblical mandate (Isaiah 58: 6-7), but it takes a community working together to make this happen. Our corporate and individual community regularly support our food bank by donating food and financial donations. Accreditation is our way of valuing their commitment.”

The accreditation process is like writing a policy manual from scratch, explains Community Ministries Coordinator Ryan Daw. He said it took between eight and ten months to write, and he had to carefully consider each step of every process, from how food is collected at the food bank to how it is handled, repackaged and eventually presented to clients.

The food bank in Fort Frances does not have a kitchen to prepare food; instead, their services are based on repacking donated or purchased food for hampers. This means that their food bank falls into the high-risk category, which requires extra steps to ensure that allergens don’t cross-contaminate foods. To achieve this, Daw worked closely with the Northwestern Health Unit.

Daw explains that he had to make an allergen log and develop an allergen policy. He had to track lots of details, including providing a comprehensive account of their space if there are areas that are isolated from others, and when gloves are used, to ensure that food received from the food bank is of the highest quality and that they can track all their products so that no one gets sick.

“It opens a lot of doors in the sense that when people approach our food bank, they know that they’re going to have healthy, safe meals,” says Daw. “They’re going to know that we’ve been inspected, not only by the health inspector but also by the accreditation process that ensures that we maintain the highest standards and food quality for our clients and that privacy is maintained and their dignity is protected too. Feed Ontario and Food Banks Canada have designed a system where they ensure that clients are respected when they’re here. That was really important to me, and it’s important to the clients.”

The accreditation also opens doors regarding funding. As a high-risk facility, Daw realized that they needed a double sink. He was able to apply for a grant for the sink from Food Banks Canada to help them meet that criteria. The accreditation also enables the food bank to benefit from donations from Food Banks Canada – large-scale pallets of high-quality food with a clear chain of custody, ensuring that temperatures have been maintained, especially for items like meat.

“They have a fantastic chicken program that has helped us immensely in our community, and we’ve been able to share it with other partners to help their projects. We’ve been able to feed over 8,000 children at our local high school, and we partner with another church to feed the homeless. We couldn’t do that without the pallets that they send.”

“I would describe Ryan as one of our unsung Community Heroes,” Fort Frances mayor Andrew Hallikas told the Fort Frances Times. “Not only does he feed our hungry, he finds them housing, he finds them job opportunities. He assists them to get legal help if they need it. I serve on a number of committees, and when I go to these committees, who do I see? I see Ryan. As an example, he’s serving on the human trafficking coalition, giving of his time and his talents there. He’s throughout our community wherever help is needed, and he gives his time and his talents generously, without asking anything in return. He’s just there to lending a helping hand.”