The food bank has cut back on the number of items it puts in hampers as the shelves run thin. (Tyler Marr/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Tyler Marr

DWINDLING SUPPLIES

Food bank in need of donations as shelves run low

Jul 22, 2019 | 5:30 PM

An average of 50 hampers filled with food go out the doors of the Battlefords District Food and Resource Centre each day.

That serves about 2,000 people a month, over half of which are children. However, 55 per cent of the families who use the food bank come in four times a year or less.

And while students may be out on summer holiday, hunger doesn’t take a break.

“We are very low right now,” Executive Director Erin Katerynych said.

The centre is forced to cut back on the number of items in the hampers as they do not have enough product to keep up with rising demand.

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“We are starting to get fresh produce in, which is fantastic, as that really helps out with adding nutrition to our food hampers,” she added. “But we are struggling at the moment.”

Katerynych said the organization will gladly take anything healthy, especially fruits and vegetables.

Last year, the food bank handed out over two tonnes of fresh garden produce to those in needed and hope gardeners will step up to the call once again.

They are low on dairy and meat products, but these can be difficult to attain, as everything has to be part of a cold chain.

During the summer, the executive director said the centre’s numbers do not drop as children who would receive food through school programming are no longer able to do so.

“A lot of people rely on us more as we try to fill a void,” she said.

Those who use the food bank can come once every two weeks. The hampers supplied are not meant to feed them for the entire 14 days, but act as a small hand up to get a family through to the next pay period, for example.

The number of people coming through the facility for hampers continues to rise, Katerynych said.

“I haven’t met anybody who helps as many people as we do for our population size,” she explained, noting they have handed out more hampers than Lethbridge, which serves a population of over 100,000.

—

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr