'It’s overwhelming': Senior starts social-media initiative to cover rent at Amherst food bank

It’s about an hour before the food bank in downtown Amherst, N.S., opens for the day, and it’s about to get very busy.  

The Amherst Food Assistance Network Association serves well over 350 clients a month and most of them have families.

Chairperson Charlotte Ross said it’s been busier than ever because of the high cost of living and newcomers that need help getting settled.

“And also the homeless, very prominent here in Amherst, which it never was,” said Ross. “We’re trying to help them as much as we can.”

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Ross said clients are only supposed to put in an order and visit once a month, but some do multiple times.

They never say no.

“Clients get a good amount of food. We’re not holding back. If they need it, they get it,” she said. “Everyone can have food if they require it.”

Jeff Marshall and Charlotte Ross of the Amherst Food Assistance Network Association are seen at the food bank in Amherst, N.S., on Oct. 4, 2024. (Derek Haggett/CTV Atlantic)

'A very generous community'

The rent at the King Street building is $1,800 a month and Ross said it’s covered by generous donations from the community.  

Town councillor and community advocate Dale Fawthrop noticed usage doubled in the past year, so he came up with a new initiative to help pay that monthly bill.

“If I can get 180 people to give $10, we’d cover the rent, and I know Amherst to be a very generous community,” said Fawthrop.

Last Sunday, the 80-year-old made a plea on social media asking people to give $10 a piece to cover December’s rent.

Within 24 hours, $2,000 was raised.

Pleasantly surprised by the quick response, Fawthrop then started a Facebook group called “Club 180” to try and get $10 each month.

There are currently over 200 members of the new group.

“If you wait for the provincial government and the federal government it’s going to take forever for them to try and solve this food crisis that’s all across the land, all across the world. so, you need a grass roots approach,” he said.

Ross said Fawthrop’s initiative has given them a huge boost.

“It’s overwhelming for one thing. To think that he had the initiative to start something like this and just out of the kindness of his heart to think about us and to think about the people we serve and how that might help,” said Ross. “If the rent was paid, that money could go for other things that we require.”

Fawthrop’s goal is to make the rent payment plan a permanent, year-round thing.

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