Tyler Harper wrote a feature article entitled “No hungry mouths: Nora Nitz is Nelson’s 2025 Citizen of the Year.” The following is a shortened version of the original feature article published in the March 19, 2026, issue of the Nelson Star.
“Few people knew about the Food Pantry when it opened on February 8, 2000. St. Saviour’s Pro-Cathedral was considering ideas for a millennium project, and a small food bank was decided on after a priest at St. Saviour’s said they were receiving requests for help from four people each week.
The initial space was small, and it opened without advertising. Eight people showed up the first day.
Nitz has provided food and support to thousands of people as the Food Pantry’s manager. Her ongoing dedication to Nelson’s most vulnerable residents has earned her the Nelson Star’s 2025 Citizen of the Year, which has been handed out annually since 1964 to people who give back to the community.
The Food Pantry had 2,936 client visits in 2025. It is open, just two hours weekly, from 9-11 am on Fridays, but might serve up to 50 people during that time.
Today the pantry is in a larger space than in 2000. But little else has changed. It relies on committed volunteers and food donations.
The biggest demographic is people on disability, seniors, and single parents. Nitz says parents are spending most of their income on rents and can’t afford to feed their children.
The pantry is well stocked, but they don’t know what they will have on hand on any given week. They get vegetables, bread and pastries; there’s plenty of cans to choose from; and every person gets a choice of proteins.
“Respect, dignity, trust: pull out a thesaurus,” Nitz says. “There’s so many words that try to encompass what we do here.”
