A crisis can also be an opportunity, officials with Eat Local Sudbury (ELS) Co-operative and their renters, ReThink Green, said.

The co-operative retail outlet promotes the consumption of local food grown by local producers.

The crisis came Feb. 1 when their former location at 28 Durham St. suffered flood damage. Heating pipes above the store broke sending a large volume of water down upon inventory and resources.

“We had to close temporarily,” Emily Trottier said. She is the co-ordinator of the store, which has been operational as a retail outlet for local and area farmers since 2008. It grew from stalls established at the Farmers Market in 2006.

“Insurance did cover lost products but we never will recoup our investment into all the electrical, painting and flooring work we did on the old store,” Trottier added.

The opportunity is the much larger space that is available in the new location at 176 Larch St.

“We got the keys to the new space — a former children's and family centre — on Feb. 15. This new space is about double what we had. It means we can grow into this space. We have many future plans for it.”

Trottier said she expects the new store will be open to the public by mid April.

“We will have our annual general meeting in the store for our members on March 27 from 4 to 8 p.m. But we need more time to allow the public to come in.”

ELS is building a six by eight foot cooler room that will expand the storage of perishable goods available to store members and the public. Trottier said other plans being developed are to establish a Health Unit-approved community kitchen in the front room area.

“We want to have cooking demonstrations and workshops to show people how they can preserve what they grow.” Entrepreneurs who wish to try starting their own food-related businesses can experiment with making preserves, like jams or other value-added products.

By the fall, the co-operative hopes to set up an organic cafe within the premises.

“Right now we are focusing on reopening the store as our main objective but we are looking for someone to manage the cafe.” Up to a dozen volunteers and staff have been working weekends to renovate the new space.

ReThink Green, formerly known as the Greater Sudbury Environment Network (GSEN), has also moved to the new location, Trottier said.

“We hope to obtain a few more renters of like mind as ourselves to help defray expenses and capitalize on synergies. We have more space available for offices and their space requirements.”

Scott Card, co-ordinator of Rethink Green, said the new location allows his environmental group to do more.

“In the old space we were developing an environmental resource centre,” he said. “Here we have more space to continue with this.”

Last year, in the old space, his organization was able to host a series of weekly environmental workshops leading up to Earth Day, April 22.

“This year, because of the renovations, we don't expect to be ready for the public until May 1.”

In the meantime, Card said he and Marcie Neuburger are organizing Earth Day at Market Square, April 17, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“This is our fifth year organizing Earth Day. Already we have 50 vendors and 60 tables booked with room for another 40.”

This year there will be an admission charge of $5 for individuals and $10 for families.

“We need to make this event a sustainable yearly event,” Card said.

There will be entertainment as usual, and a food fair for the first time at Earth Day, Neuburger said. She is co-ordinator of the day's events.

For more information, phone ELS at 521-6717 or visit www.eatlocalsudbury.com and www.rethinkgreen.ca.