A popular Collingwood food pantry has been moved from its previous location at the Collingwood Youth Centre to Erie St. Community Church, in an effort to address the growing need the pantry has seen over the past year.
The Project Butterfly food pantry officially opened at the youth centre in March 2022, as the town’s first 24/7 fridge, freezer and pantry. The pantry was moved to 200 Erie St. over the Labour Day weekend.
Lynda Lavigne lives in Collingwood, and accessed the pantry a few times when it was at the youth centre as it was about a block away from where she lives.
“Nowadays, money is tight. Even with assistance, it doesn’t provide (enough) after you pay all the bills,” she said, noting that last month was the first time she’d needed to use the Salvation Army food bank as well.
As the pantry is a much further distance for her now, she says she probably won’t attend as much and only if she can get a ride.
“It is a little far. I don’t drive. I don’t like to ask for help,” she said. “It’s a hit and a miss.”
Kerri MacDonald, project co-ordinator with the Environment Network which oversees Collingwood Youth Centre operations, says it was necessary to move the pantry because it has been so successful over the past year and a half.
“Since the beginning, we had hoped it would not be as needed as we have seen. However, we shortly realized the need was much greater than we anticipated,” she said.
MacDonald said the high needs of the pantry were interfering with programming at the youth centre through both staff time and the physical space needed to house all the donations.
“CYC is completely dedicated to the youth of the community and having the pantry at the centre started pulling our staff away from the youth as they need to help out with the pantry,” she said.
“We would never have shut the pantry down, however when we had the opportunity to move it, we took it,” said MacDonald.
The fridge, freezer and pantry project was the brainchild of Collingwood resident Ash Smith, who brought the idea to the Collingwood Youth Centre in late 2021. The pantry officially opened to the public in March 2022.
While other food pantry programs do exist in Collingwood such as through the Collingwood Public Library, St. Vincent DePaul and the Salvation Army, Project Butterfly is the first in Collingwood that is open 24/7 and works on an honour system where anyone wishing to donate can drop food off and food can be accessed at any time of day.
Organization of the pantry was taken over by a group of volunteers affiliated with the Mobile Soup Kitchen program earlier this year, led by organizer Rhonda Day.
Day says she’d like to get information out to the community about the move, as on Wednesday there were lineups at both the youth centre and the church first thing in the morning to access the pantry.
“We’re referring to this as growing pains,” said Day, with a laugh. “We will work it all out.”
Rev. Donna Wilson, pastor at Erie Street Community Church, says she had received a call from Day this past summer inquiring about the possibility of moving the pantry to the church.
“We’re always looking for ways to assist the community. It was a perfect fit,” she said. “We genuinely see the need for providing food to our area.”
Moving forward, volunteers with the Mobile Soup Kitchen will help maintain the pantry, fridge and freezer three times per week.
“Our location is pretty quiet, so people can drop in and remain anonymous to pick up what they need,” said Wilson. “We’re really thankful for the volunteers in Collingwood who help make this happen. We can help in this little way.”
MacDonald says the Collingwood Youth Centre will still pick up and provide food for the pantry through fundraisers and food drives.
The Project Butterfly food pantry is now located outside Erie Street Community Church at 200 Erie St. in Collingwood. Donations can be dropped off at the pantry 24/7. The pantry is restocked by volunteers Monday and Wednesday at 2 p.m., and Fridays at 10:30 a.m. If you’d like to help the Mobile Soup Kitchen with the project through volunteering, contact them on Facebook here.
