PG food banks continue to see sharp rise in demand as winter approaches

Foot traffic at local food banks is rising between 20 and 25% as more people continue to struggle with the rising cost of living.

According to Food Banks Canada’s “Hunger Report” nearly two million Canadians accessed food bank services in March, a 32 percent increase than the year before.

Bernie Goold with the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Prince George told MyPGNow.com that times are tough right now for much of the population.

“It’s gone up about 25% (the foot traffic) and our fruit and vegetable bags have gone up 40%. We give them out once a week and they have gone up by about 40%.”

Gould mentioned they continue to see an influx of seniors asking for food hampers, a scenario she believes is heartbreaking.

“It really does humble us to think that these people built the community and now their income does not allow them to buy what they need for the whole month.”

“It’s very humbling to see how many people are struggling. It truly is. You know we are grateful that we can lighten their load just slightly.”

Roy Law with the Salvation Army Food Bank says the impact of people struggling to pay for basic expenses is pretty far-reaching.

“Definitely things are different in the world right now. When we feel it ourselves personally that of course is going to trickle down even bigger for someone else.”

Law mentioned, that they too, are seeing some new faces come through the doors and also touched on the foods that are highest in demand.

“People that are even working but have the smaller wage jobs and now they have been forced to go over that threshold. The basics such as perishables like dairy, eggs, vegetables, and meat are the foods most in need.”

Food Banks Canada noted while B.C. may have the highest rate of poverty reduction, the province needs more work to bring it below the national average.

The report says the main reasons for this include the unaffordable housing market. They add around 40 percent of residents spend more than 30 percent of their monthly income on housing.

This means over 70 percent of food bank clients in B.C. are renters.

In addition, seniors, immigrants, single mothers, low-income workers, and people on social assistance are using food banks more but the study also shows people in higher income brackets are also now depending on food banks.

–with files from Justin Waddell, My Cowichan Valley Now staff