Donations of food and money are coming in thick and fast at the Mountain View Food Bank, and that's a good thing, says director Pat Graham, because the overall number of clients accessing the food bank is up 12 per cent over last year.
“New families are up 42 per cent,” Graham says. “Our five-people hampers – five-plus people in a family – they are up 18 per cent. So that shows us that it's families. It's working families – they're struggling.”
Although the number of recipients is up overall, it's not even throughout Mountain View County. In some communities, like Olds, demand has gone way up. In others, demand is down, sometimes dramatically.
Demand in Olds is up 19 per cent. The number of clients in Didsbury has risen 15 per cent. Demand in other communities, like Bowden, Wimborne and James River is up 21 per cent.
However, the number of clients accessing the Mountain View Food Bank in other communities has fallen.
It's down six per cent in Sundre, five per cent in Carstairs and down three per cent in Cremona.
“It's all over the whole county. We're up and down, up and down,” she says.
Graham says the food bank has been getting a good assortment of everything --food and donations.
“Donations, if they fit into our grocery list, we put them on the shelves. If they don't, we use them either as free items or extras. So either way it works out really well,” she says.
For the last four years or so, the Mountain View Food Bank has stopped buying or looking for turkeys for Christmas hampers.
Instead, for about the past month, they've been providing clients with gift certificates they can redeem for any kind of meat they want. Those vouchers are good until the end of the year. The amount that can be purchased varies according to the size of the family.
“In the past we have had turkeys, we have had hams. And some people are very grateful to get that, but other people – they either don't have the facility to cook it or they don't know how to cook it, and a few of them went to waste,” she says.
“So rather than have food go to waste, we now let them pick out what they're comfortable with and what they like. It's just that they'd rather have a roast or they'd rather have a ham, or they'd just like some chicken or some pork chops.
“This way they can do whatever they like and it has worked out really, really well.”
Graham says in about mid-January, food bank volunteers will likely have a better handle on how many donations they received this year compared to last year and previous years.
"New families are up 42 per cent." Pat GrahamMountain View Food Bank
