OLDS — Mountain View Food Bank saw a record number of clients leading up to Christmas, president Tayva Graham says.
“Our volunteers made 106 hampers on Dec 19. Last year (2022) that number was 85,” she communicated to the Albertan.
“Our front-of-house volunteers also saw the equivalent in free table clients, seeing close to 200 households come through our doors on a single Tuesday.”
Reports have said that food bank use across the country has increased as Canadians try to cope with soaring food costs.
Graham said there was a decline in numbers on Jan. 2 but she isn’t expecting that decline to continue.
“Today we only saw 62 households, but we will see that number increase significantly as the month moves on,” she wrote.
Late last year, the food bank not only saw a surge of clients overall, but an upsurge in Olds College students in particular.
“We’re seeing about 30 students on a daily – every Tuesday about 30 on average,” Graham said.
They’ve seen 70 to 80 students utilizing the food bank at times.
Graham said that that number in 2022 would have been “zero.”
Overnight, starting in August, we saw this huge influx of students,” she said.
A rumour was circulating that at least some students were showing up at the food bank in ‘high end’ vehicles.
Graham said she hadn’t seen any students doing that and even if there were, there could be good reasons for that.
For example, they could have obtained a ride from someone else, or the vehicle they’re driving could be ‘high end,’ but used.
“It’s hard for them to come into the food bank and if they’re driving a nice car, we’re not judging that,” Graham said. “Something’s gotta give and unfortunately, it’s groceries."
Late last year, a meeting was held regarding international students in the community and what could be done to help them.
Participants in that meeting included Olds College/education officials, Olds chief administrative officer Brent Williams and town facilitator Heather Dixon as well as a couple of members of the Community Lifestyles Committee.
Williams said he had contacted the MVFB and had been told that usage of that facility has increased by local citizens as well as international students.
An OCAT rep said they had met with food bank reps and will keep in contact to monitor use of the food bank by international students.
