After not even a year, the Winnipeg Beach Food Cupboard is closed.
The local food cupboard made a considerable splash when opening this past year, growing quickly beyond its capabilities. Initially set up in the recreation centre, the Winnipeg Beach Food Cupboard moved to a new location on Stitt Street and opened a fresh food cart just this June.
The cupboard is closing after a zoning bylaw removed the cupboard organizer’s only source of income. Without that, she’s had to find other work and no longer has the time to dedicate to the service.
Lisa Teel started the Winnipeg Beach Food Cupboard last year after seeing a need for the service in town. Since then, she’s been delivering food, stocking shelves, and taking orders nonstop, working full-time as a volunteer. Teel could do that because she had income from an AirBnb guest house on her property in town, but a zoning bylaw quickly changed that.
In Winnipeg Beach, residents can have a guest house on their property for family and friends to stay in. Winnipeg Beach mayor Pam Jackson said Teel had turned a shed in her backyard into a guest house and was renting the space out on AirBnb, which is not allowed under zoning bylaw section 56.
The bylaw states a guest house can only provide secondary and incidental accommodation for family members and guests of the occupants of the single-family dwelling, among other things. So, Teel had to apply for a variance from the town to continue renting out her guest house. Two Winnipeg Beach council members voted for the variance, and two voted against it, so the motion became defeated, leaving Teel unable to keep her guest house up on AirBnb.
Teel said she could only run the food cupboard because she didn’t work full-time and had income from the guest house. Without that income, she has to find another job, leaving her with little time for the food cupboard.
“The simple fact is I have to work,” said Teel. “I just can’t do both. It’s not possible.”
Jackson said the town was extremely supportive of the food cupboard from the beginning, helping her set up the space in the rec centre and then offering her the space in the location on Stitt Street, renovating it, and adding security systems.
“We were very excited about being able to do that for her,” said Jackson. “We were working closely with her and were impressed with all her work. She did a wonderful job and was providing a really important service for our town.”
Jackson said the council was surprised to hear the food cupboard was closing because of the variance. She stressed the two matters are not related, and the town did not expect the food cupboard to take a hit.
‘We can’t ever be in a position where someone comes and asks for a variance and connects it to something else they’re doing for the town,” she said. “It didn’t occur to us that she would just shut down the food cupboard. We can’t take that into consideration when looking at variance. We can only look at bylaws and restrictions.”
The Winnipeg Beach Food Cupboard had numerous volunteers, but none are continuing the service. Jackson hopes someone will continue it so the service can continue to be offered in Winnipeg Beach.
The food cupboard donated all food on its shelves to Evergreen Basic Needs, over 500 lb of food. Teel said they’ll also give them any funds the food cupboard has.
