The cleanup was in full swing at a food bank in Sydney on Sunday after the building was recently targeted by vandals.

It took the better part of the day for North Sydney Food Bank workers and volunteers to wash away the vulgar spray painted messages.

“It's all about respect for the clients that come here,” said food bank co-chair Lawrence Shebib. “If they come to a shabby run down building, we try to give them hope when they come – not to make them feel depressed because of a building like that.”

Shebib was the first to find the graffiti splattered all over the building Tuesday morning. The sentiment was shared by Robert Thomson, the owner of an industrial service company.

“Since they're volunteers, they deserved better thanks than this,” said Thompson. “I know this vandalism was really disheartening to them, so we felt we wanted to come forward and stand with them and let them know they have support in the community.”

“We respect their work, we appreciate their work.”

The group started cleaning off graffiti around 8:30 a.m. and say they'll continue for most of the day, and into the evening. The Cape Breton Regional Municipality also plans to help out by adding a fresh coat of paint to the building later this month.

“I've visited other cities where graffiti control is out of control and it really brings a place down,” said Thompson. “It's terrible for the image of the community.”

Using brushes and special material, Thompson and his crew also worked to remove older graffiti that’s been on the building for years. The vulgar messages in the latest incident is what crossed the line for staff, but they say they simply don’t have the resources to deal with the problem themselves.

“We’re not in a position to do that kind of work to the building. All the money we get goes back to the clients,” said Shebib.

Shebib hopes this will be the last of the taggings, especially with the organization increasing security measures.

“We have somebody who's going to help us with security on the building. The next group of vandals that come, they may be surprised because they're going to get caught,” he said.

Shebib says nobody has come forward with information on the incident. Police are continuing their investigation.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.