Update as of March 30th, 2020
We are opening on Wednesday, April 1st and Thursday, April 2nd, with the following change:
Our service hours of operation at Bronson Centre will be:
From 10:30 am to 1:00 pm (Wednesday & Thursday)
Access to the building is restricted. Please arrive at front entrance at 211 Bronson Avenue, where we will serve one client at a time.
We appreciate your patience and support during this uncertain period.
We are opening on Wednesday, April 1st and Thursday, April 2nd, with the following change:
Our service hours of operation at Bronson Centre will be:
From 10:30 am to 1:00 pm (Wednesday & Thursday)
Access to the building is restricted. Please arrive at front entrance at 211 Bronson Avenue, where we will serve one client at a time.
We appreciate your patience and support during this uncertain period.
March 18, 2020
Operating a food bank in the COVID-19 world
We continue to monitor updates from Ottawa Public Health, and we are working closely with Ottawa Food Bank to keep our shelves stocked with food and other necessary emergency supplies. Along with most of our peers, we have switched from choice-based options to a "hamper-style" service, where volunteers and staff pre-pack bags with available foods for a quicker, simpler turnaround. In our case, we also re-located our order-filling zone from the back end of the Bronson Centre building to their front lobby off Bronson Avenue. This open space gives us the ability to offer both our servers and clients a buffer of "social distance".
Today was a good day, because we were able to meet the demand in our community. And yet it is an "early day" in how we will deal with our new reality. Staff and dedicated volunteers served over 150 bags of goods from the main lobby area in the Bronson Centre. And we expect to be open again, at the same time (10:30 am), in the same place on Thursday, March 19th.
Groups such as our cannot function without dedicated staff and committed volunteers. We thank everyone that came out today, and those that will pitch in tomorrow.
We'd like to thank management/staff at The Bronson Centre for accommodating this tenant's changing needs, and we'd be remiss to not show appreciation to the full team at Ottawa Food Bank.
Bye for now.
Stay tuned to Twitter & Facebook for "on the go" notes as we navigate this path.
Operating a food bank in the COVID-19 world
We continue to monitor updates from Ottawa Public Health, and we are working closely with Ottawa Food Bank to keep our shelves stocked with food and other necessary emergency supplies. Along with most of our peers, we have switched from choice-based options to a "hamper-style" service, where volunteers and staff pre-pack bags with available foods for a quicker, simpler turnaround. In our case, we also re-located our order-filling zone from the back end of the Bronson Centre building to their front lobby off Bronson Avenue. This open space gives us the ability to offer both our servers and clients a buffer of "social distance".
Today was a good day, because we were able to meet the demand in our community. And yet it is an "early day" in how we will deal with our new reality. Staff and dedicated volunteers served over 150 bags of goods from the main lobby area in the Bronson Centre. And we expect to be open again, at the same time (10:30 am), in the same place on Thursday, March 19th.
Groups such as our cannot function without dedicated staff and committed volunteers. We thank everyone that came out today, and those that will pitch in tomorrow.
We'd like to thank management/staff at The Bronson Centre for accommodating this tenant's changing needs, and we'd be remiss to not show appreciation to the full team at Ottawa Food Bank.
Bye for now.
Stay tuned to Twitter & Facebook for "on the go" notes as we navigate this path.
Originally posted: March 13, 2020
COVID-19: A message for our community
We are closely monitoring developments about the spread of the Corona Virus - COVID-19 - in the Ottawa community, taking our lead based on guidance from Ottawa Public Health, Ottawa Food Bank, and Somerset West Community Health Centre.
We recognize that the people we serve may need us even more at this time, and we are committed to providing emergency food services unless and until directed otherwise by our partner agencies.
Over the past few days, we've made key changes to how we receive and interact with visitors at the Bronson Centre, and in how we exchange food with our clients because the health & well-being of our clients, volunteers, and staff is paramount.
What this means is that we are suspending our practice of packing food directly in our clients' bags, packs, carts, etc. and have moved instead to create a separate "take-out" zone down the hall from our intake area** so that clients can pack their own orders as soon as volunteers gather their goods from our fridge and shelves. Everyone serving clients will be provided disposable gloves.
We will stagger access to reception and intake areas**, creating physical space within client waiting zones, and we have, of course, stepped up disinfectant surface cleaning practices.
It is our plan to remain open during our regular hours - Wednesday and Thursday from 10:30 am until 2:30 pm - unless things change so much that this is no longer possible.
Stay tuned to this site, and our social media sites - particularly Twitter or Facebook - for updates.
**We are grateful to the Bronson Centre (our landlord) for quickly supporting our need for extra service space and for helping us to adapt to this fluid situation. It is nice to be within a community like this.
March 9, 2020
We're looking to round out our Board of Directors**
If you’re looking for an opportunity to “give back”, and you have the time & energy to help us get where we want to be, we’d like to hear from you!
Dalhousie Food Cupboard is a local food bank serving people living in the West Centretown-Little Italy community. We are situated at the Bronson Centre, where we help 700 people/month, handing out several days of groceries & fresh foods to singles, couples and families. Our clients face food insecurity and we offer as many good food choices as we can. We are working to add additional programming in the next year or two.
What to do next?
We plan to meet with short-listed candidates in late April-early May.
**Please circulate this ad with your friends and within your business network.
We're looking to round out our Board of Directors**
If you’re looking for an opportunity to “give back”, and you have the time & energy to help us get where we want to be, we’d like to hear from you!
Dalhousie Food Cupboard is a local food bank serving people living in the West Centretown-Little Italy community. We are situated at the Bronson Centre, where we help 700 people/month, handing out several days of groceries & fresh foods to singles, couples and families. Our clients face food insecurity and we offer as many good food choices as we can. We are working to add additional programming in the next year or two.
- Are you driven by a passion for helping others?
- Do you have skills in one of these areas – accounting, communications, graphic and/or web design?
- Can you see the big picture and help us push for better healthy connections for our clients and our community?
What to do next?
- Send us an expression of interest - in short resume or bio format - by email to dalhousiefoodcupboard@gmail.com before April 14th, 2020
- Be sure to highlight your particular interests and skills.
- Please use "Board member EOI" in the email Subject Line.
We plan to meet with short-listed candidates in late April-early May.
**Please circulate this ad with your friends and within your business network.
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February 14, 2020
Christ Church Cathedral hosts event to support St. Luke's Table and Dalhousie Food Cupboard The event took place on Saturday, February 8th, and we are filled with gratitude to be benefactors of the community's generosity. Thanks for this support! 
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November 9, 2019
Ottawa's Tent City:
Dalhousie Food Cupboard would like to share this link with our followers and the community at large. The people affected by Ottawa's housing challenges and homelessness are people who are doing their best to live and survive in our neighborhood, and thus they are our neighbors. Please help them in any way you can. Many thanks to Overdose Prevention Ottawa for spreading this message and for spearheading this initiative.
https://overdosepreventionottawa.wordpress.com/2019/10/29/request-from-residents-of-tent-city/
27 April 2019
uOttawa | Communication Management (CMN5135) class
Since January we have been partnering with a group of Communications students at University of Ottawa, and earlier this month our Board of Directors and staff had the pleasure of sitting in on the last day of class as they presented the results of the term's work project to us and their instructor . We received presentations in key areas - Corporate Communications, Government Relations, Development & Advocacy. The content of the presentations was insightful, and we took away a trove of fresh ideas to work with, things that are particularly relevant in our charitable sector today.
We are so grateful to have had the opportunity of being studied, and to say we are looking forward to moving forward with many of the recommendations is an understatement.
Thanks to everyone in the Winter 2019 CMN5135 class, and to Dalhousie Food Cupboard's Student Volunteer Coordinator, Daniel Fishbein, for paving the way to this connection.
uOttawa | Communication Management (CMN5135) class
Since January we have been partnering with a group of Communications students at University of Ottawa, and earlier this month our Board of Directors and staff had the pleasure of sitting in on the last day of class as they presented the results of the term's work project to us and their instructor . We received presentations in key areas - Corporate Communications, Government Relations, Development & Advocacy. The content of the presentations was insightful, and we took away a trove of fresh ideas to work with, things that are particularly relevant in our charitable sector today.
We are so grateful to have had the opportunity of being studied, and to say we are looking forward to moving forward with many of the recommendations is an understatement.
Thanks to everyone in the Winter 2019 CMN5135 class, and to Dalhousie Food Cupboard's Student Volunteer Coordinator, Daniel Fishbein, for paving the way to this connection.
February 7, 2019
The Dalhousie Food Cupboard community is saddened by the passing of Paul Dewar. Our hearts go out to his family and friends. Paul was a dedicated man who championed action and compassion through his life, and we were honored to have him visit us during his last year as our Member of Parliament in 2015.
Paul, you will be missed.
The Dalhousie Food Cupboard community is saddened by the passing of Paul Dewar. Our hearts go out to his family and friends. Paul was a dedicated man who championed action and compassion through his life, and we were honored to have him visit us during his last year as our Member of Parliament in 2015.
Paul, you will be missed.
