People Sharing Food

The Nelson Food Cupboard Society is a non-profit organization that manages the Nelson Food Cupboard & aims to address food insecurities in Nelson and the surrounding areas with innovative & customer-oriented solutions.

At the Nelson Food Cupboard, we believe having access to healthy food is a human right. Many people in our community do not have sufficient resources to provide food for themselves and their families so we are here to bridge that gap.

The Nelson Food Cupboard is a barrier-free food bank open to the public three days per week. Being barrier-free means that people can come to our food bank as often as they need and we don’t ask them to justify why they need to come. We respect their rights to privacy and dignity and aim to create a welcoming and safe atmosphere for people of all backgrounds.

We feed 600 – 1000 customers per month and aim to meet their diverse family and dietary needs with healthy foods. Our shelves are regularly stocked with fresh produce, diverse breads, bulk grains, peanut butter, and canned goods; and on certain days other nutritious foods such as tofu, farm fresh eggs and sandwich meats are offered to our customers.

Food Cupboard customers come from Nelson and the surrounding towns and rural areas. One third are children. Many of our customers struggle to make ends meet on social assistance, some work for low wages and support families, and others are in transitional periods of their lives. Food Cupboard customers’ stories are as diverse as those of other socio-economic groups.

In addition to the food bank, we operate Harvest Rescue, a fresh produce gleaning program, and offer food skills workshops that focus on cooking on a limited budget and making the most of seasonal produce harvesting.

Harvest Rescue connects fruit tree owners, backyard gardeners and farmers in the Nelson area who have more produce than they need, with community members who can use that food. Rather than becoming compost, bear-bait, or landfill, the food goes to food banks, shelters, community groups and the pickers themselves.

The Nelson Food Cupboard Society is a community-minded organization and we value supporting the local economy. We partner with diverse social service agencies, businesses and individuals to deliver programs and fund raise. We aim to purchase as much of our food locally as possible and work directly with local farmers and locally-owned businesses.

In 2008, we have received funding from Mazon Canada and Hydrecs BC to purchase farm shares from 2 local farms: Glade Valley Gardens and Soil Matters Organic Farm. These farm shares will amount to weekly deliveries of fresh produce from each farm throughout the growing season. Soil Matters has 2 large greenhouses and we are looking forward to regular deliveries from them throughout the season.
It takes significant resources to run our programs & we acknowledge immense support from local businesses & individuals.

For more information on the Nelson Food Cupboard Society, please visit www.foodcupboard.org or contact Marya at 354-1633.