OLDS — Mountain View Food Bank officials are glad that the province is providing a total of $10 million for food banks and community organizations.
But food bank administrator Pat Graham says once it’s disbursed to the province's biggest cities -- Calgary and Edmonton; and then mid-sized cities like Fort McMurray, Red Deer and Lethbridge -- there won’t be much left for entities like the Mountain View Food Bank.
On Nov. 6, Seniors, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon announced that the provincial government is providing a total of $10 million for food banks and community organizations.
Of that money, food banks across the province will receive $3.7 million immediately. An additional $4.1 million will be available, but they’ll have to apply for it.
The remaining $2.2 million is set aside to create a new program to coordinate the needs of food banks during emergencies like natural disasters.
“Well, it will help,” Graham said. “We’re really, really busy right now.
“Everybody is hurting. Groceries are so expensive that it won’t take long to spend however much money.
“Like, we’ll get a portion, compared to how many people we saw last year, so you never know how much we’ll get – maybe $5,000, maybe $10,000.
“Once they give it to Edmonton and Calgary – because those are the biggest cities – and then Fort McMurray and then they’ll go to Lethbridge and Red Deer and then they do the small towns around,” she added.
“I can’t remember for sure how many food banks there are in Alberta but there’s a fair number of us.”
On its website, Food Banks Alberta says it has more than 107 members.
Mountain View Food Bank treasurer Penny Coyne said last year, the food bank received $15,000 via Family and Community Support Services.
Coyne said she’ll take advantage of the opportunity to apply for money under the initiative announced Monday.
"If there’s a grant, I apply for it. Like I said, we need the money,” she said.
Graham said food and financial insecurity is affecting all stratas of society.
"It’s everybody. Just everybody," she said. “There’s a lot of seniors hurting right now. Yeah, things are just too expensive. Rent has gone up really high.
“And the (federal) government wants everybody to lower their prices except them. They raised the GST, they raised the carbon tax, interest rates are raised. But then they want the grocery stores to drop their prices. They need to start at home.”
