Occasionally What’s Up In The South End will feature an agency or organization working in our neighborhood. This month is about the 7-10 Club.
The Nanaimo 7-10 Club society was formed in January 1985 by a group of concerned volunteers of differing faith backgrounds. The Club recognized a vital service was needed to feed the hungry in our community so set up a program to provide families and individuals with low incomes a hot breakfast and bagged lunch.
During the Club’s first year of operation over 13,000 meals were served. On average 100 people were served daily with a high of 188. For 22years the 7-10 Club operated at St. Peter’s Catholic Church and by 2007 were serving between 250 – 350 meals per day.
Since September of 2007 the society has been located, with the grace of the City of Nanaimo, in the auditorium of the Community Service Building at 285 Prideaux St. Due to the lack of a proper kitchen, in the building, Brechin United Church has been most generous in allowing staff to prepare sandwiches which are then transported to Prideaux St. and served with coffee, juice, fruit and snacks. The unfortunate result of this relocation meant we could no longer provide our signature hot breakfast of soup or porridge.
The 7 – 10 Club also saw its hours cut from 7:00 – 10:00 to 7:00 – 8:30. Other results of the move have been that the numbers of those using the service have dropped significantly, averaging 100 per day, with many of the families no longer accessing the program.
Funds for the 7-10 Club come from the generous donations by individuals, businesses, service clubs, city grants and gaming revenues. Volunteers have been a mainstay of the 7-10 club since its inception
GREAT NEWS, we have recently been given permission to formally lease the auditorium space from the city and renovate by putting in a fully functional kitchen, this also means that our hours can go back to normal. Renovations should be completed by May 2009 and we fully expect that once we are again providing a hot breakfast more families will again avail themselves of the service.
— Gordon Fuller
South End Community Association 