OLDS — The Mountain View Food Bank is seeing less demand than usual, despite so many people being unemployed due to the COVID-19 lockdown, director Patricia Graham says.
In fact, during an interview, Graham said food bank volunteers have been filling about half the hampers they usually do, due to low demand.
“It’s really quiet. We’re open Tuesdays but it’s quiet. I don’t know if it’s because people have the money from the government or what,” she said.
Graham said although demand is down, they are seeing new clients.
“We’re still busy and we do a number of hampers through the week, but it’s not as busy as we thought it would be.”
The food bank got two real financial shots in the arm over the past week.
They received $5,584.35 from Sobeys Olds to help the food bank provide food to clients during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The food bank also received a total of $2,870 from A&W Olds, Bowden and Sundre via a promotion campaign in late April.
The company donated $1 from every teenburger sold.
The Olds and Bowden restaurants raised $1,500 and the Sundre one garnered $1,370.
Graham is grateful for the donations.
She said all donations received go toward buying more groceries for the food bank.
“It’s really, really good; unbelievable,” she said. “Right now, we can’t order and we’re not really busy, so we’re using our stock up.
“But the crash is going to hit, and we are going to be unbelievably busy and then hopefully everything opens up and we can fill our shelves again.
“We have no paid help – none. So everything we collect goes to food to support our clients,” she said.
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Local residents are also donating food to the Mountain View Food Bank.
Graham said that helps, because now, during the COVID-19 pandemic, they can’t buy in bulk.
If people want to donate food to the food bank, Graham has some recommendations on what to drop off.
“Basics, like soup, canned sandwich meat, macaroni, vegetables, just the basic things, you know, that you would buy to feed a family,” she said.
She said there’s no need to donate meat because the food bank obtains meat elsewhere.
“We buy hamburger,” she said. “And it’s now 4-H time, so hopefully we will get 4-H cattle, calves.”
Graham was asked if she was concerned about the fact that the Cargill meat processing plant near High River was closed after at least 821 of its employees were infected with COVID-19 and one died.
That plant was scheduled to reopen May 4.
Also, an online petition calling for the JBS meat packing plant in Brooks to be shut down temporarily was created after dozens of employees tested positive for COVID-19.
Graham said the outbreaks in those two plants aren’t a concern for her because Olds College butchers meat and provides them with hamburger.
