More Red Deerians need a free meal at a time of rising food costs and falling donations — creating a difficult situation at Red Deer’s The Mustard Seed.
The charity announced on Tuesday it’s feeling the impact of inflation and rising costs while also witnessing a record number of people needing its services.
“Our chef is a master at creating something out of nothing and coming up with nutritious meals at a lower cost,” said Laura Giesbrecht, director of operations at The Mustard Seed in Red Deer.
But the non-profit prides itself on serving balanced nutritious meals to vulnerable clients, so compromising that standard is not an option, she added. “We need (the community’s help) to continue providing vital services to our vulnerable clients,” said Giesbrecht, who admitted making constant budget adjustments to meet the growing demand is getting too hard.
Where the Mustard Seed used to make an average of 110 free community meals an evening, each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, it is now serving an average of 167 meals on each of these evenings for local individuals and families who can’t make ends meet.
Giesbrecht believes the growing client list indicates that many area residents have not financially recovered from pandemic lockdowns and reduced work hours.
At the same time, The Mustard Seed’s 46-bed homeless shelter has also experienced more visits, being full for much of August.
Meanwhile, inflation is rising and suppliers across Alberta and B.C. have increased their prices, so that meals that used to cost $3.51 on average to make now cost $5.38, she added.
The Mustard Seed budgeted $1,873,441 for meals, and during the four months ended July 31st, surpassed the year-to-date food expense budget by $241,815.
The non-profit that served more than 700,000 meals across its locations last year expects to be making more meals this year — including an anticipated rise in need for school lunch programs this fall.
The charity gets some government and United Way grants, but relies largely on public and corporate food donations (gifts in kind) to offset its costs, and there’s been a steady decline in overall donations.
Giesbrecht knows that many families who might otherwise have donated are now struggling to afford grocery trips themselves. But she hopes those who can afford to donate will drop off food, cash or even gift cards to grocery stores.
“We also welcome group meal sponsorship – so if a sports team, a group of staff, a church group, or a university club wishes to sponsor an entire meal, give us a call at 1-833-GIV-HOPE (448-4673).
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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