Key takeaways:
- Food banks noticed a 97 percent growth in use from June 2020 to June 2022.
- Edmonton’s Food Bank stated it requires more volunteers and donations to keep up with demand.
Edmonton’s Food Bank is struggling with inflation, increasing gas costs, and everything being more costly.
More people than ever are utilizing the food bank, and at the same time, the food bank says donations are getting harder to come by.
Demand increased during the pandemic; from June 2020 to June 2022, the food bank witnessed a 97 percent growth in use.
The food bank depends on Edmonton’s yearly Heritage Festival for a significant prevalence of donations. This year they had a goal of 50,000 kilograms of food donations but fell short of that by almost half.
They organized to raise $35,267, but representative Tamisan Bencz-Knight said purchasing food and transporting it across the city costs more.
In June, the food bank helped near to 35,000 people.
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“People that were struggling before are struggling even more right now with those expense of living increases,” Bencz-Knight stated.
“People are tottering on the edge that didn’t quite need us as an organization is now finding themselves at our door. We’ve even had past donors say, ‘I’m sorry, I used to donate. I ought to request for help right now.'”
Need ‘food, funds, and friends
The food bank said they require more of everything, from food and funds to donations and volunteers.
Matthew Cormier has been volunteering with the food bank for over a year. He motivates others to come to help out.
“I’m only here to give back to the community and help families that require it,” he said.
The food bank said demand is so increased that their warehouse is now open seven days a week to fulfill the request, and they need ‘food, funds, and friends to continue helping people.
Source – CBC News
