Grand opening of Share Market at the Trenton Care and Share Food Bank

The Trenton Care and Share Food Bank held a grand opening for its share market at its facility in Trenton on Wednesday.

Local politicians, including Bay of Quinte MPP Tyler Allsopp, as well as volunteers and staff with the food bank took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The share market is a shift from the traditional “hamper” model that is normally seen at a food bank.

“(It was) based on the size of the family, when somebody comes in, they were given a package of groceries … but there was really no choice,” general manager of the Trenton Care and Share Food Bank, Craig Olivier tells Quinte News in explaining the hamper model.

“So there’s been a move to change over to where it’s more or less a shopping experience now.  So when the person comes in, they say hey, I don’t need that item this month, so they don’t take it. Or, you know, I don’t even eat that, so I won’t use that.”

Olivier says this gives people who use the food bank dignity and choice knowing they are taking home something that their family is going to enjoy.

He says more food banks have been adopting the share market model in the last decade.

“We had Ashley (Quan) from Feed Ontario here today saying that somewhere between about 60% to 70% of food banks now have switched over to it.  So I would say more in the last decade, and more so even in the last five years, it’s accelerating, and people are moving that way.”

When one walks through the facility, they might notice a colour-coding system with an attached number for a number of items on the shelves.

Olivier says it was an idea taken from the Fair Share Food Bank in Kingston.

“Basically (it’s) the size of families that come in, and based on how many members of the family, they get a colour coding,” Olivier explained.

“They are given a card, and we just kind of clip that colour code onto them, and when they walk through, they know there’s something. They can look at the shelves, and it’ll tell them that, hey, in this particular item, you can have one, two or three, whichever it be, in that category.”

More information about the food bank can be found at their website.

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