Mississauga Food Bank explores opportunities to build a new warehouse as needs grow

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Published July 8, 2022 at 3:18 pm

Food Banks Mississauga

The Mississauga Food Bank is now considering building a new warehouse as thousands more people need help.

The food bank has searched for 10 months for a warehouse to lease or purchase but due to the market conditions, they have been unsuccessful, Meghan Nicholls, chief executive officer of the Mississauga Food Bank told council on July 6.

In the next five years, food bank users are expected to grow from 19,000 to 60,000 a year and the food bank is now in “emergency” situation, Nicholls said.

Back in 2014, the 15,500-square-foot warehouse provided enough space to distribute about 1.3 million pounds of food.

“But today we distribute 5.2 million pounds of food a year a 300 per cent increase in output from the same space,” Nicholls said.

The Mississauga Food Bank is the central food bank for the city distributing healthy and culturally appropriate food through 55 agencies including neighborhood food banks, emergency pantries, breakfast clubs, and other food programs.


As a solution in the short term, the food bank wants to find a warehouse for a five year commercial lease. In the long term, they would like to build a facility and Nicholls said they will come back to council at a later date for help finding land.

The property could be anywhere in Mississauga and they would consider a joint facility with Brampton, she said. They would need around two acres with access to highways and transit for volunteers.

Ward 9 Councillor Pat Saito said she would look into a possible vacant Rona store to lease. She also suggested Metrolinx land owned by the province. The City of Mississauga also owns vacant land on the Ninth Line on the border with Brampton. Saito asked staff to look into the possibility of giving a portion of that land to the food bank.

If the food bank can find the land, they would have to run a fundraising campaign for an additional $2 to 3 million dollars, on top of the $3 million they have in reserve, to cover construction costs, Nicholls said.

Prior to the pandemic, the food bank served about 19,000 people each year, Nicholls said.

And after two years of the pandemic, they are serving more people than ever — more than 30,000 people and growing. That’s a 58 per cent increase in just a couple of years, she added.

“Every month is a record-breaking month for us these days,” Nicholls said.

They have to rent supplemental, short-term storage units at a significant cost and also have to turn down desperately needed donations because of a lack of storage space, particularly refrigerated space, she added.

The food bank also had to renew its lease at the current location because there aren’t any viable options for a new facility.

“So now the same inadequate space costs 300 per cent more than it did when we moved there in 2014.”

Inflation and the wait for affordable housing in Peel is forcing more people into precarious living conditions. The food bank estimates they won’t be able to provide the more than 12 million meals to people who need them in the next five years without a larger warehouse.

“That represents Mississauga neighbours going hungry,” she said.

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