Battlefords District Food and Resource Centre Executive Director Erin Katerynych, left, and Food Bank Manager Heather O’Neill at the annual general meeting and volunteer appreciation event, Thursday. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Community support

Food bank, christmas hampers see high demand from Battlefords’ families

Jun 7, 2019 | 6:30 PM

Between March 1, 2018, and Feb. 28, 2019, 48 per cent of those who accessed the food bank in the Battlefords were children.

The national average is 35.

And for the second year in a row, it served a record number of people.

Those numbers were contained in a report from Erin Katerynych, the executive director of the Battlefords District Food and Resource Centre, at the organization’s annual general meeting.

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“I think it is quite concerning,” Katerynych said following the event. “Our numbers for children are slowly going down every month, but we still have a high average. It used to be 51 or 52 per cent of our clients were children. Now, we’re slightly below that. But it shouldn’t be so high.”

Her report provided an overview of how the 2018-2019 food bank program and the 2018 Empty Stocking Fund Christmas Hamper program fared.

While financial donations are down, food donations are up.

Katerynych attributes the reduced monetary contributions to a downturn in the economy.

The Empty Stocking Fund Christmas campaign received $30,413 from contributions for the fiscal-year ending Feb. 28, 2019, compared to $43,578 the year prior. Similarly, the food bank received $14,952 in individual contributions compared to $21,373. The Big Red Boot collection bin program for the 2018 Christmas campaign wasn’t as successful in raising funds as it was the year prior, either.

The BDFRC’s financial statement for the 2018-19 fiscal year showed the operating fund had a total deficit of $26,315. This, she said, will be absorbed in the 2019-20 budget.

The 2018 Empty Stocking Fund Christmas Hamper program gave out 451 hampers, fewer than the year prior, however, the size of the families receiving the hampers increased. A total of 1,609 people benefited from the program.

A total of 1,347 families accessed the food bank in 2018, a four per cent rise year-over-year. It served an average of 2,081 people per month between March 1, 2018 and Feb. 28, 2019, handing out $716,000 worth of product.

“Every year the amount of families helped has steadily increased,” Katerynych said.

The BDFRC offers a number of other programs: Coats for Kids, Milk for Kids, Food for Kids, After the Bell, and provides an income tax preparation service.

Katerynych thanked the many dedicated and long-serving volunteers for their efforts, who provided a total of 3,700 hours.

Highlighting the prior fiscal year, the food bank received a grant through Food Banks Canada to purchase a freight elevator to use for storing food supplies in its basement, which will serve as a future hub for Food Banks Saskatchewan. The freight lift was installed in November.

Katerynych said the organization incurred a significant expense in February when it had to repair its refrigerated cube truck which broke down due to the extreme cold.

The food bank doesn’t receive core funding and relies on financial donations and grants from the community, businesses and other organizations.

—

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow