Food bank use on the rise

BARRHEAD-Barrhead and District Family Community Support Services (FCSS) food bank has seen a slight increase in uptake in recent weeks.

Early on in the pandemic restrictions in March and April, the food bank usage was on the downward trend but in recent weeks that has been slowly reversing.

"We are just about at our normal levels pre-COVID," FCSS food bank coordinator Cheri Jantz said. "And the number of people and families requesting hampers is increasing by one or two families a month."

Jantz speculates the reason why the food bank's usage decreased initially is because of the monetary emergency relief programs made available by both the provincial and federal governments.

As these programs run out, the number of people seeking their services is on the rise.

Jantz noted it is a similar trend to what other rural food banks are seeing saying the province's food banks are in communication with each other as members of the Food Banks Alberta.

"I know early on, we [rural food banks] were concerned about the lack of people. What happened to our regulars? Hoping that nothing bad happened to them," she said.

In 2019, the food bank fed 1,827 individuals, 630 of which were children. Currently, between 60 and 70 families regularly use the food bank.

Jantz added the decrease in users, while welcomed, also allowed the Barrhead food bank to revise the way they operate.

Before COVID-19, the majority of the food bank's donations came from the donation of food.

However, due to safety concerns for both FCSS volunteers and clients, the food bank stopped taking physical donations public as they can't sanitize every item they receive.

People who want to support the food bank are asked to donate financially or by placing an order at one of the local grocery stores.

The virus also has changed the way clients pick up their hampers. To reduce contact with the public, food bank clients are asked to prearrange a pickup time at FCSS. At the prearranged time, in the FCSS parking lot, a volunteer will bring out the client's food hamper on a trolley, then return to the building. After the client leaves with their hamper, the trolley is retrieved, sanitized and the process is repeated.

To further protect volunteers Jantz said staffing has been reduced to a skeleton crew and whenever possible their shifts are staggered in case anyone has to self-isolate, the food bank can still provide service.

"Barrhead has always been a generous community and people have been very generous," Jantz said.

The food bank also received a financial boost, thanks to FCSS receiving a Social Services Supporrt for COVID-19. The provincial grant gives charities and not-for-profit organizations a one-time grant to help provide specific coronavirus relief programs. The grant went to fund several FCSS COVID relief initiatives, including a significant portion went to the food bank.

She also noted that the food bank's supplies are also further augmented by donations from Food Banks Alberta that provides them with a monthly supply truckload of products.

A lot of this contribution comes from large corporations who donate their excess product to Canada Food Banks, which then send it to their provincial counterparts for redistribution to local food banks.

Recently, they have received a lot of frozen products, from Alberta Food Banks, such as assorted potato items that come from restaurants and their suppliers.

Jantz noted that the food bank picks up the frozen products from Alberta Food Banks' Leduc warehouse because the truck that makes the bulk delivery of items isn't refrigerated. The food bank occasionally can pick up eggs at its Spruce Grove warehouse as well as personal protective equipment.

"It always surprises me how generous people are and not only in our community," she said, noting they recently received a $900 donation from FortisAlberta. "I can't tell you how many meals that will provide. Then there was a publishing company that donated three boxes of children's books and an individual who gave Alberta Food Banks a special handmade soap from PEI. It is the little things that give hampers that special touch and let people know that others are thinking of them."

For those wishing to access food bank programming, they will need a piece of identification showing that they are a resident of the area and the Alberta Health Care Cards of any dependents, as well as a record of income. This is a statistic collected by Food Banks of Canada to determine who is accessing food banks in a particular region.

Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com

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