Rising demand means extended hours, shopping slots for market-style food bank in Whitby, Ontario [Video]

The Market at Iroquois Park in Whitby

A market-style food bank at Whitby’s Iroquois Park Sports Centre has doubled its hours of operation and bumped its shopping slots by more than 60 per cent to meet rising community demand.

The Market, operated by Feed the Need Durham, is now open two days a week to provide more people with an accessible, dignified and equitable way to access free food bank services and healthy food options in a community setting.

With the existing 160 pre-booked time slots to visit The Market each week consistently filling in less than two minutes, an extra 100 shopping time slots have been added, along with extended evening availability, to better address significant community need.

Instead of putting a pre-selected food hamper in someone’s hands, registered visitors can move freely through the space, browsing the shelves and choosing the foods that best meet their families’ needs. All food is provided to visitors at …