The toughest month for people who use the Red Deer Food Bank is typically March, but this year the charity expects it will have a difficult time keeping food on its shelves from spring to fall.
Last March 1,124 food hampers were handed out and helped feed 1,735 adults and 1,077 children.
Executive director Mitch Thomson said based on the amount of inventory and the number of clients, April will be a critical month when products like canned meat, pasta, peanut butter, rice and cereal will start to dwindle.
“While the community was absolutely wonderful over Christmas and got us restocked, we were so low that I don’t think we’re going to fare well from basically April to October,” Thomson said.
He said last year, the food bank also spent $400,000 to buy milk, margarine, eggs, ground beef and chicken. An average of 941 hampers went out each month in 2023, and demand continues to grow.
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He said food costs remain a strain on households, along with high-interest rates impacting mortgage renewals and credit card pressures,
“That’s just hitting all our pensioners, and a lot of families who aren’t quite making it. There’s a large number of people we’re serving today who are having trouble maintaining their housing. Unfortunately, we expect it to be another difficult year.”
He said the food bank serves a large number of new Canadians who fled war-torn countries. Government programs that support older Canadians and those with disabilities have not kept pace with the cost of living, so people are living below the poverty line.
More households with eight or more people are also reaching out for help, but the food bank has had to limit the number of people a hamper can feed because of the availability of food.
In the last six months, 64 percent of food bank users only needed a hamper once or twice, which is good for them, he said.
“But it also shows there’s just a lot of people doing that, so it’s an alarming trend of what the hurt is like out there.”
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Thomson said the food bank will be very busy this year with activities to raise money and bolster its food supplies.
Red Deer’s Coldest Night of the Year walk is set for Feb. 24 with the aim to raise $100,000 for Mustard Seed and Red Deer Food Bank. Participants, who can choose a two or five-km route, are encouraged to collect pledges.
“We would love to have a couple hundred walkers out.”
To register or donate go to cnoy.org.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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