Basement food bank in Toronto on verge of shutting down over 'heartbreaking' condo complaint

Condo complaints threatening North York food bank A basement food bank in North York is in danger of being shut down because of complaints from the condo corporation where it's located.

A North York food bank that serves 700 local families says it is in danger of being shut down following complaints by the condo corporation that runs its building.

The Flemingdon Food Bank, which has operated out of a basement unit at 10 Gateway Blvd. for more than a decade, says a dispute over the use of rear loading dock doors is jeopardizing its ability to operate.

“The only way for us to get into the food bank is that exit door,” volunteer Manager Chadi Abed Razek told CTV News Toronto. “We don’t have any other options.”

The food bank uses the rear doors Mondays and Wednesdays to accommodate food deliveries, unload boxes, and allow clients to exit the building. Those customers access the food bank through a separate narrow entrance and line up in the basement hallway, leaving no room for boxes of food to be wheeled in from that same door.

The rear exit is labelled “fire exit – keep door closed,” but Abed Razek says his team of volunteers needs to prop it open to continuously wheel in donated food. The condo corporation, he said, recently began cracking down on their use of those back doors, installing a high-pitch alarm as a deterrent and twice calling in a fire inspector, who issued warnings.

“A board member of the building, they’re going crazy about that,” Abed Razek said. “I understand they’re following the regulations, but it’s the only way for us to move in and out.”

“It’s actually really heartbreaking,” Jon Burnside, the councillor for the ward, told CTV News Toronto. “There’s such a huge need for this food bank in the Flemingdon Park area, and all the volunteers are just trying to do their best to help feed their fellow community members.”

Burnside said the food bank has been trying to work with the condo corporation, a process that has been “difficult.”

"We’re happy to work with all of our tenants,” one of the directors of MTCC 1248 said.

“The safety of everyone, our residents and clients and tenants, that’s always our first priority.”

Toronto Fire Services confirmed that it had received a third-party complaint regarding 10 Gateway Blvd. and is “working with both the building owner and the tenant to achieve compliance with the fire code.”

But Abed Razek said if the food bank is fined for a fire code violation, it will have no choice but to close-up shop.

“This is the last warning,” he said. “If the next time, they charge us, definitely the food bank will shut down. Seven hundred families in the community will be out of food.”