The Salvation Army is working on a new project for their food bank, changing the way that they get items into the hands of the people that need them.

That change will be reconfiguring the existing bank into a kind of store, where those families can come to get their food.

Those who need the items there won't be charged for them, and the groundwork for how it's all organized is already made.

Ronza Reynard, the Communities Ministry Director for Estevan and Weyburn, explains just what the new system will be.

"What we're going to be doing is a grocery store model, where our clients will meet with our family services person and discuss the current situation going on. Each family will be allotted a certain amount of points, depending on the size of the family. Then the client gets to come into the food bank and actually walk around our food bank store and pick the groceries that they need."

The new setup comes after a long evaluation process on different types of setups.

"It's been done in many other places, we started it in our Weyburn location back in June, it's been something that we've wanted to do for a number of years," said Reynard, "Is trying to figure out the logistics of our space, how does it work, and looking at different models throughout Canada at different food banks. We've finally got it figured out how to make it easy for everybody and accessible for everybody."

By letting people pick out what they need, the food bank will be saving money which will go back into getting people fresher foods.

"What we're also trying to do is offer more fruits and vegetables, more dairy, and things like that. So this is helping us save money when people are picking exactly what they want, what they need."

"Where we're finding those savings, we're turning those around into purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables. That kind of stuff doesn't come with a point value," said Reynard, "That'll be on top of whatever their points are, they're more for your packaged food and any kind of things we have like that."

The Salvation Army will be showing off the new grocery store style next week on their Facebook page.