The Whitby Specialty Food Bank is looking for an "angel donor" to provide about 10,000 square feet of warehouse space in Whitby, along with money, donations and sponsors, DurhamRegion.com reports.
Co-ordinator Marcia White said, "We're looking to get sponsors and donors and, in return, offer them a tax receipt, but, right now, we don't have a lot of money." No dollar shortfall and no deadline were given. Anyone able to help can contact the food bank at whitbyspecialtyfoodbank@gmail.com.
The food bank started in 2016 at Kendalwood Adventist Church, feeding about 30 families a week; demand rose to as many as 250 families during COVID-19. It left Kendalwood in 2023, when the church needed its basement back and there were bylaw complaints over refrigeration-truck noise, then operated from a church in Pickering before outgrowing that early in 2026. It now operates outdoors in Scarborough, at 801 Progress Ave., using two outdoor trailers and a refrigerator truck, feeding about 80 families.
It is the only specialty food bank White knows of in Ontario, offering lactose-free, gluten-free, halal, vegan and vegetarian food, plus food for diabetic, hypertensive and celiac clients, drawing on White's nursing background. Volunteers, many of them retired, travel from Whitby to Scarborough, and travel to and from Scarborough to serve Whitby-area clients has been tough this past year; outdoor winter work is a problem, White said.
Behind the story
Sources & publication details
- Byline
- Daily Durham News
- Published
- Nov 9, 2026, 9:07 a.m.
- Source
- www.durhamregion.com
