If you have some extra space, Community FEWD is looking for you.
The program, which launched in May 2022 as part of the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition, has outgrown its current location at The Church of the Apostles on Paisley Road.
"Basically, we are at capacity," Community FEWD founder Yasi Zorlutuna told GuelphToday.
"We could not produce more food out of that kitchen because of the limitations of the space and the equipment."
More specifically, she said the new space needs to have a walk-in fridge, can handle large-scale food preparation and enough room to accommodate up to 12 volunteers it has working at one time.
"Right now, if we have 12 volunteers in the kitchen, it's very squishy and we often have to set up tables outside of the kitchen, in the church hall area, which is fine, we make it work."
But while it's fine, she added it's not ideal.
"The dream would be for us to have our own dedicated space, that we don't share with anybody," Zorlutuna said. "(But) as a chef, I'm realistic and I know that there might be a couple steps before we get there."
Zorlutuna said Community FEWD will continue to operate out of the church until a new space is found.
She said because it's a charity, and a bit limited financially, having a shared space is more sustainable.
"The thing is when people are offering charity, and offering a space at an extreme discount or for free, there tends to be a limit on that, in terms of time," she said.
"I love collaboration too, and I know that it's really hard to find space, affordable, good kitchen space to work out of, so it does appeal to me to collaborate with other folks that we could be mutually beneficial to each other."
In just over a year, Community FEWD has served 21,000 meals and diverted nearly 10 tonnes of surplus food from the landfill.
But with the limited space, another issue arising is that Community FEWD is limited in how much surplus food it can accept at one time.
"We receive our donations through the SEED, and the food bank almost entirely right now, and then other people who had just heard about us through the grapevine, they reach out," she said.
The new space, Zorlutuna said, would allow her to accept donations from places like grocery stores, and would look forward to that type of collaboration.
She said there is a spot on Garibaldi Street in The Ward being looked at.
But since Community FEWD can't afford the space on its own, Zorlutuna said she has put feelers out online to see if anyone wants to collaborate.
She said anyone looking to work with her can email [email protected]