Canada's 1st full-scale free grocery store to open in Regina ( www.cbc.ca )

Imagine walking into a store, picking out all your groceries for the week and not having to worry about facing an expensive bill at the checkout.

For clients of the Regina Food Bank, that will soon be a reality.

Since the pandemic, there has been a spike in food bank users across the country, up 25 per cent in Regina alone. One in eight families — and one in four children — are now food insecure in the city. Of the 16,000 monthly clients, 44 per cent are kids.

The new Regina Food Bank Community Food Hub, modelled after a traditional grocery store, is set to open this summer in the former government liquor store location downtown.

Arkouda ,

How about we just feed everyone for free instead? This is 100% possible right now in Canada. Canadian Food waste alone could feed every single person in Canada for 5 months. About 4.82 million tonnes.

Gross right?

Next in line add Water, Shelter, Education, and Medical. Fully covered for every Canadian citizen and no exceptions.

Again this is 100% possible tomorrow without changing anything other than where tax money ends up and I am done pretending like all of the scraps Canadians are given for our money are worth what our "Leaders" get in their own pockets.

jadero ,

Forget all the "not actually first" and "misleading headline" stuff. If we can do this on donations, probably mostly from people only a paycheque away from needing a food bank themselves, imagine what we could do with an actual social system funded by properly taxing wealth, high income, and corporations. We could turn that headline into something approaching reality.

corsicanguppy ,

funded by properly taxing wealth

Whoa, careful there. Our opposition - and some proclaim our next administration, due to people disappointed with imperfection taking a hard exit into pure cruel failboatism - would have a lot to say about the taxing of the wealthy and the helping of the 'others' who aren't rich. Something about boot-straps and laziness or some such, is the usual pablum they serve.

If we want to continue helping people who need it the most, we do need to seriously point out the (sometimes-hidden) cruelty of every conservative platform ever, and how that kind of magical thinking is repeatedly harming actual progress toward people getting onto the good side of the tax-and-spend fence.

TerkErJerbs ,

Sorry but this model of foodbank was roughly over 70% the norm in most places prior to covid because it cuts down on wasted food (i.e. the hamper box system distributes a lot of food people either don't, or won't eat). Post-covid most banks had to go back to the hamper model to limit exposure to the sorting and storage areas.

I've both volunteered and worked at, as well as drawn from, several food banks. Idk if sask is just decades behind or what's going on with this article but, no.

FlareHeart ,
@FlareHeart@lemmy.ca avatar

Sask is, in fact, quite far behind.

ImplyingImplications ,

Headline is misleading. This is a food bank that allows their clients to choose their own products and sets the product out like a grocery store.

Typically food banks will give clients a standard box of items but not everyone uses all of it. Allowing clients to pick their own items reduces waste and setting it up like a grocery store just makes sense.

Clients still need to register with the food bank and are restricted to $200 worth of items every two weeks.

rozodru ,

yeah we already have one of those in Toronto. it's a food bank that looks like a small grocery store. you don't get a pre-packaged box of stuff nor does a volunteer walk around with you putting stuff in your bag. you just walk around and pick out what you want.

People get embarrassed using food banks, they shouldn't be but I've seen it first hand. you line up outside waiting for it to open and some people just get uncomfortable lining up thinking people walking by are judging them (they're not) and it also doesn't help that stigma when you're inside and have to wait on a volunteer to fill up your bags for you asking you what you want.

autotldr Bot ,

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Imagine walking into a store, picking out all your groceries for the week and not having to worry about facing an expensive bill at the checkout.

The hub will give those who rely on the food bank autonomy over what they want to take home to feed their families, rather than being handed standardized items.

"None of us fit in a box, but that's what we give our clients today," said Regina Food Bank vice-president David Froh.

White first reached out to the food bank for help five years ago, after a shoulder injury left him unable to work.

Other food banks in Canada have piloted the choice model on a smaller scale, with limited hours and capacity.

Froh said their two largest growing demographics are people who work full time — now 18 per cent of food bank clients in the city — and new Canadians.

The original article contains 890 words, the summary contains 146 words. Saved 84%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

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