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The food bank started in the early 1980s and was located on 13th Street East.
Share A Meal was unofficial and carried out by St. Mark's Parrish and midtown
homeowners who fed the hungry.
- 1992 - Share A Meal and the Food Bank amalgamated on River
Street and then moved to 11th Street East. In the next 10 years, it
became fashionable to donate food, time and money to food banks and the
Share A Meal Food Bank benefited from
that trendiness. There were large meat donations, food drives
and Wonska School became an affiliate partner. Prince Albert Parks and
Recreation also benefited from the Share A Meal Food Bank when the Snack
Program was started up.
- 2012 - A necessary addition to the building was added this
year and the PA Outreach van was added as an affiliate partner. A new
cook was added to the staff and new volunteers were recruited. The
distribution list began including more
non-profit and community-based organizations and the size of
the hampers increased. The one drawback came when it was determined that
the food bank could no longer accept wild meat unless it was processed
in a government-licensed facility.
- 2013 - The kitchen area was revamped in February and became a
much easier place to work. The referral system was abandoned and people
could now come in to get their own food hampers without having to go
through an intermediate agency. The
system was computerized in May and made getting a hamper
easier and less likely to be abused.
- 2015 - The Share-A-Meal Program was terminated and handed
off to other agencies when our core funding dollars were exhausted. We
focus on the food bank side of things and added a volunteer co-ordinator
position to help recruit more
volunteers and to work on side projects that utilize the
kitchen and dining areas.
- 2016 - The Oasis Demonstration Garden was started at 1650 6th Avenue West, next to the S.H.A.R.E. building (the old brewery)
- 2017 - The Oasis Demonstration Garden added a children’s program in addition to a Sacred Circle.
- 2020 - Passed on the Oasis Demonstration Garden onto
S.H.A.R.E. and took on managing the City Garden plots in order to
provide more fresh produce for the Food Bank.
At the Prince Albert Food Bank we are passionate about helping those
who live a life of struggle and want to be more than their current situation.
We are also a pet-friendly 'winter warm-up' shelter, providing pet food,
coats and other supplies, (depending upon availability).
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