Caldwell Family Centre - Ottawa, Ontario

Paul Cooney

The little store they sell donated items from has become more about the money and less about the helping of low income people or families,the new management is hardly professional,I understand overhead but there prices are based on label and how much they can get rather than helping low income people get clothing and the basics.

BEN AYAD

There was a lady with hijab treated me very badly although I’m Muslim I felt she was extremely racist and said No food for you although I was hungry and I did not have any food to eat or survive. Food bank is for people who are in need of food and are in hunger. But this lady wants to force only her rules. Please aware of her, she will ask for the place that you live in if not near by even if she sees you hungry or dying she will refuse to give you food.

God please treat her badly as she did to me. God will take his revenge.

Food bank is for people who are in need of food not for forcing some sort of rules.

Other than that all other staff are helpful and were very helpful and friendly. But again she made stay without food for whole week. Caused extreme suffering.

Ms. Zimbabwe

I had a terrible experiences today I was in line for the food bank I have been going for three months . It a 45 min walk and 15-20 min bus ride . As I was about to leave this lady with the haijab and around her late to mid 40 s and she wears glasses ( sorry I don’t know her name ) say im not qualified to get food and that my location doesn’t qualify me when I really needed it. And I have been coming there already . She made the guy that help me take out all the food and even he felt sorry and confused . To me I felt I was treated badly with racism as I’m a minority coloured women and she is white . She did this in front of a bunch of people to purposely attack me . I would assume a church would make me feel better especially when you’re really in need .but I guess not

Rav

This is a small family donations shop for lightly used and new clothing, shoes, books for adults & kids. They help welcome new refugees & immigrants to the City.

Lisa

So far everyone I've met has been super nice. They don't make you feel like you're a burden to society and you see people from all walks of life, it make you feel like you aren't alone in this fight and that honestly feels so relieving.

Maer Morin

I’ve updated my review to reflect my experience using the food bank over the last two years. I have not used the family centre’s other services so I cannot speak to them.

The positive:
Other food banks give you a food hamper every week so you get no say in what you get. This food bank lets you come through and pick what you want (with limits) and I appreciate that immensely.

There is often a fair amount of variety of foods and most of it is still good.

Things that could be improved:

The Epworth location is extremely inaccessible for those with mobility issues. There are several steps to get down. A more accessible location should have been chosen. There is an option for delivery but it’s only on Wednesdays and the food bank decides the conditions that make someone eligible for delivery, which will leave some people in difficult situations if they don’t meet their criteria.

I would love to see a bike rack at the food bank as many people bike to get there and would probably appreciate a secure place to leave their bikes.

I would also love to see more volunteers wearing masks as that is an accessibility issue for many folks as well.

Some volunteers make comments that are in bad taste, sometimes inadvertent racist/sexist comments. One volunteer will always announce your name and your address very loudly which makes me uncomfortable. Not everyone wants their name and where they live to be broadcasted.

Lastly, I feel that the volunteers take an excessively punitive approach when there are disagreements between volunteers and folks getting food. I have never seen any patron shout or get angry or violent, yet volunteers are quick to put warnings on people’s files. This has not happened to me, but I have witnessed it more than once. In the two cases I’ve seen, it was a white volunteer having a disagreement/miscommunication with a black customer. (For context, I am white.)

I think the volunteers who work at the food bank could really benefit from some de-escalation training. Often things boil down to a miscommunication or misunderstanding, especially when there are language barriers. It can also be confusing when different volunteers give different answers to questions or have different approaches to how they serve their customers. Some volunteers let you pick up what you want, and some don’t want you to touch anything. That was the subject of a dispute in one of the instances I witnessed. Someone wanted to pick their own bananas and the volunteer didn’t want to let them. After some arguing back and forth, the volunteer said the person couldn’t get anything else and had to leave. What got written down in their file was that the person was asking for more, when that wasn’t true. The other volunteers were also quick to talk about the situation once the person left, within earshot of the rest of us waiting, which I felt was in bad taste. But that’s how I know they were writing this off as someone asking for more, that’s what they dismissed it as. I heard them say it. I calmly told the volunteer who was writing in the file what I had seen so they could at least get it right. They said they always back up their volunteers and that the patron can ask for a different volunteer if they want next time.

This makes me really nervous to use the food bank. I get worried that I’ll do the wrong thing without understanding and then get a warning.

I think the volunteers really need de-escalation training and to have a more compassionate approach. It’s scary that someone could have their only source of food revoked because they just wanted to pick their own bananas. Volunteers should not have to deal with abuse, but nothing I’ve ever seen has been close to abuse or even foul language.

Folks will sometimes act in ways that challenge the status quo or be frustrating/confusing/dysregulated and there are so many reasons that breakdowns in communication happen, but taking away someone’s only source of food is not right.

Pam Somebody

The staff are really nice and helpful. The food there is great, and the food bank gives out a lot of food if you go at the right time. They also have computers and a phone people can use and serve toast every morning, and lunch every weekday. For those in the area and on a low income it is definitely worth checking out.

Cindy Taylor

To whom it may concern,
My name is Cindy Dalcourt, I am 44yrs old and a single mother on disability. The Caldwell food bank has been denying me all services to the food bank, clothing depot (warm clothing and blankets), hot breakfasts and hot lunches since September 2021. When I called to ask to get warm clothing and blankets, I was ignore for two months through winter. Apparently only my child is allowed to get food for my household. They have no proof or evidence of their accusations and won't give me any.This has effected our homelife as well as mine and my children's mental health. I have reached out to many and will keep reaching out until Caldwell will treat me fairly without judgements so nobody will ever go through what my children and I have had to go through. Not being welcome because of my mental health and who I am is not a reason to deny food to someone.
You shouldn't HAVE to be liked to get food for ones family. Hopefully the trolls will keep their comments to themselves. I truly hope this never happened to anyone else and if it has or does......speak up!