It was like the icing on the cake at the new Lake Country Food Bank building as long-time manager, the late Phyllis MacPherson, was honoured posthumously on the weekend with the hanging of a print in her honour, now on the wall inside the Lake Country Food Bank.
Community members gathered Saturday at the new food bank building as a print of Phyllis was unveiled and hung in the building, alongside a donour plague, recognizing the immense community contributions in getting the building constructed and open for use.
MacPherson passed away last year just before the new building was opened.
Rotary Club of Lake Country representative Bob Rymarchuk said it was nice to honour MacPherson with the new plaque, but still sad that the driving force of the food bank for so many years, never got to work out of the new building.
“It was Phyllis’ dream all the way along to be able to have a permanent facility,” said Rymarchuk. “I’m not sure she ever really thought it would happen until she started to see the hole being dug. We’re all very sad that she didn’t get to the end of the project. It would have been the culmination of her dream and her work. It’s gratifying to see she is being remembered for all her hard work but at the same time it’s just so sad that it didn’t work out for her to be standing there.”
Along with MacPherson’s portrait—done by artist Charla Maarschalk and showing Phyllis in one her trademark hats with a radiant smile—a donour appreciation plaque was also unveiled in the building, representing folks and businesses who made a contribution to the new building.
Work on the new Lake Country Food Bank began about six years ago and it was completed early this year for about $400,000, although the true value of the building is much higher, with community contributions taken into account.
“We just had tremendous support from everybody,” said Rymarchuk. “It’s pretty interesting to see it at the end of the project and how it all worked out. So many people donated either time or money or materials. The community really needs to see how many people helped out.”
With the siding now in place and paving to the front of the building done, the project is basically complete to what the Rotary club set out to do: To have a new facility allowing the food bank to operate out of. But Rymarchuk says the basement of the building will still need some work as plans on how to utilize it continue to formulate.
Among those plans are for it to be used as a storage facility for smaller food banks around the Okanagan who could use the combined buying power along with the storage space, to allow for cheaper purchases as well as a distribution plan.
For now though, hampers are being put together as the Lake Country Food Assistance Society tackles its busiest time of the year. And with Phyllis’ smiling face now adorning the walls of the food bank, it seems fitting that Christmas time will arrive with Phyllis’s portrait now in the building.
“Every time I look at this building, I think of all the stuff we did with Phyllis,” said Rymarchuk. “You’re happy you got it done, and it’s here and functioning but at the same time you’re sad that it didn’t get to the point where she she was able to stand here and say ‘look at this.’”
