The local food bank's executive director Erin Katerynych shows a box of non-perishable food that would be given out, while at the centre Friday. (submitted photo/Erin Katerynych)

By Angela Brown

Community support

Food Bank in need of more volunteers and food donations

Apr 3, 2020 | 4:07 PM

The food bank located in North Battleford is looking for more food donations as well as more volunteers to help pack hampers as its crew is running low.

Battlefords District Food and Resource Centre executive director Erin Katerynych said the food bank requires able-bodied individuals who can move products and assemble hampers for pick up by families in need.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the centre was able to recruit many retired seniors and groups of school children to help prepare its food hampers, but that isn’t the case today. More seniors are staying home now to self-isolate during the pandemic, while groups of individuals can’t volunteer together due to restrictions on groups of more than 10 gathering, as part of the COVID-19 precaution measures in place in the province.

“We have a couple of people who come in on different days to help us out, and different organizations,” Katerynych said, but more help is needed. “If anyone is interested in volunteering, they can definitely give us a shout and we’ll see about making arrangements.”

She added the facility ensures volunteers safely maintain social distancing — keeping at least two metres away from others, which is another provincial precaution.

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Donations needed

As far as donations are concerned, Katerynych said the food bank is not getting a lot of food donations, but is receiving more cash contributions.

There is more demand now for the food bank’s help in the community.

“We anticipate that we’ll be running out of the food that we have a lot quicker,” Katerynych said. “We are starting to see a lot of new people come in to use the food bank.”

The food bank’s team is packing 90 to 120 boxes filled with non-perishable food at a time, topped off with fresh produce for people in need. In March, the food bank handed out 436 emergency food hampers, helping 2,134 people, 45 per cent of whom were children.

The food bank also relies on food donations from grocery stores such as left-over items and seconds-stock items, such as bread, dairy, and fresh produce. While these donations dropped significantly when people were panic-buying and store shelves emptied quickly at the start of the pandemic, that has slowed down considerably since then. The food bank is starting to receive more food donations from businesses once again.

Katerynych said this produce is much needed by people using the food bank.

“Even though it has been pulled from grocery stores because they can’t sell it anymore, it’s still good food,” she said. “We’re giving that food a second chance, and giving it to people… because they need it.”

She noted in order to better combat the COVID-19 virus people must be sturdy, eating healthy foods and “living the best lifestyle you can.”

Katerynych said the food bank appreciates the cash donations it is receiving from the community to help fill the gap during this period.

“People are sending us money, which is great because then I can go out and find a better price on food [products] to bring to the food bank, to make [the funds] stretch farther,” she said.

Support for food banks

Katerynych said the food bank staff are especially pleased to hear the federal government is giving $100 million across Canada to improve access to food for those facing economic, social and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds will be provided to many agencies including Food Banks Canada to meet residents’ needs, including Indigenous peoples’, according to the statement.

“I think that’s fantastic,” Katerynych said. “A lot of people are going to be using food banks. We have already seen a lot of people who have never been here before, coming in to get food because they have already been laid off, or their hours have been severely reduced.”

The Food Banks of Saskatchewan has launched a Province-Wide Crisis Response Fund due to the high, unprecedented demand, with more people accessing food banks across Saskatchewan during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is encouraging people to make a donation.

—

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow