Better than canned goods? Union donates house to Cranbrook food bank
Food bank says house donated by BCGEU is worth about $112,000
The Cranbrook Food Bank recently received a donation too big for any hamper.
The non-profit had been using a converted house as a distribution centre, renting it from the British Columbia Government and Service Employees Union.
But recently, the union gifted the entire house, worth about $112,000, to the food bank.
"It's really nice to have," Gerry Oviatt, manager of the Cranbrook Food Bank Society, told Daybreak South host Chris Walker. "It's been a real bonus for us."
The non-profit has been in the building for about 15 years, Oviatt said. He said the union first bought the house as office space but moved into a newer building instead.
He said the union actually ran its own food bank out of the building for its members during leaner times, but eventually that need went away.
The food bank society was formed to serve the community and continued operating out of the same building.
The house looks like a typical single-family home save for the food bank signs and vans parked out front. It is large for a house as well, having been built across two lots with an extension added.
"It's still worked out really well for us and it's actually getting to the point where it's a little smaller than what we require," Oviatt said.
He said the organization is still deciding what to do with the building. They had been considering moving to a new location but the donated house means they have new options. The non-profit has a second distribution centre in Cranbrook in an industrial park.
Listen to the full interview:
With files from CBC Radio One's Daybreak South