The City of Campbell River says it’s supporting a new nightly dinner program in partnership with local service providers, replacing a temporary takeaway meal system that has faced criticism from volunteers and residents.

The program will be run out of the Salvation Army’s Centre of Hope, with support from the Laichwiltach Family Life Society, and is expected to begin “as soon as is practical,” according to a city news release issued Tuesday.

“This program reflects months of dedicated behind-the-scenes work by City staff and community partners and allows us to respond in a meaningful way to the complex challenges that matter deeply to residents,” Mayor Kermit Dahl said in the statement.

The city says the new program will offer consistent evening meals in an indoor setting, expanding on existing lunch services already offered at the facility.

City manager Elle Brovold said the city is contributing $144,000 in the first year under a four-year agreement, with costs expected to decrease over time.

“The agreement … allows us to offset the city’s contribution through any external funding or grant opportunities that we can,” she said. “The idea is the funding will decrease here over year … to limit the impact to taxpayers.” 

The dinner service is expected to run Monday to Friday, with the city working with partners to eventually expand it to seven days a week.

The new program will replace the free boxed dinner program introduced last summer after the closure of the Hem’?aelas Community Kitchen, which had served hot meals seven days a week.

That closure, which was part of the city’s efforts to revitalize the downtown core, sparked backlash from volunteers and community groups who stepped in to fill the gap by serving hot meals outdoors.

Some volunteer groups have said the boxed meals the city offers are not nutritious and some items, like canned beans or ramen noodles, aren’t possible for people to prepare without access to a kitchen or appliances.

Vanessa Sharkey, executive director of 7 Generation Stewards Society, said she welcomes the new nightly program but has mixed feelings.

“I’m happy that it’s going to be able to move indoors,” she said. “It’s not going to be seven days a week so there still will be a little gap in the system which needs to be filled.”

Sharkey said volunteer groups like hers will continue to fill that gap.

“So we’re just going to continue on … because we don’t really have a timeline of how long it’s going to take,” she said.

According to Sharkey, her organization is one of several that have been offering hot dinners in Spirit Square in the city’s downtown over the last nine months or so — despite demands from the city’s director of community safety to stop serving them because of concerns about public drinking and “anti-social behaviour.”

She says volunteers have faced increasing visits from bylaw officers while serving meals outdoors.

“All we’ve ever asked for is support.”

Brovold said the city hopes the new indoor program will become the primary way meals are delivered.

“We do have requirements and processes in place for where you can serve food,” she added.

“We are encouraging anyone that may want to either donate their time or donate food … reach out and work with the Salvation Army under this program, rather than trying to set up competing food security options that are happening without the proper permits in place.” 

The city says it will continue to fund the program as it explored a longer-term solution, including a purpose-built facility outside the downtown core.