Regina food hubs strained to meet soaring demand

REGINA — Regina non-profit food hubs are striving to ensure services aren’t cut back from increased demand.

Last week, the Moose Jaw & District Food Bank announced it would limit household visits to once a month starting April 1 and reduce the amount of food handed out. This move came from a 150 per cent increase in demand at the food bank.

Regina’s local food bank has experienced a 259 per cent increase in usage over the past six years, but is not planning to restrict access for clients.

“Even though we've had a big demand increase, we've actually gotten really good at working with our partners, and so we've made things work through support, through partnerships and community engagement,” said Evelyn Cerda, interim CEO of the Regina Food Bank (RFB).

Cerda said the RFB is fortunate to have larger partnerships and a bigger capacity to intake food compared to other food banks.

“We are fortunate we have a very large warehouse and location that allows us to actually store a lot of food at a time, and so some of our advantages would be those partnerships, and we're able to accept more donations than some of the other smaller food banks, and so we have this space to actually manage that volume of food.”

The last time the RFB had to limit client intake was roughly seven years ago.

While reducing intake isn’t under consideration, Cerda said the RFB is concerned about a potential decline in donations.

“Everything we have and distribute is based on donations from the community and our partners so … we just keep an eye on it, we plan for it, we understand that right now economic conditions are not gonna be great, so we are planning for that decreasing donations and being more effective with how we handle the food that we have.”

The food bank saw donations drop in January and February, but Cerda said this is related to the time of year.

“Right after the holidays, it's usually slow," she said "I've heard this from other food banks across Canada that they were in the same position.”

Added pressure

Denis Simard, executive director of the Al Ritchie Community Association (ARCA), said when some non-profits reduce their intake, it places added strain on other community food providers.

He said limiting support to once a month can leave families without help for the remaining weeks, forcing organizations like his to fill the gap outside of government-supported assistance.

Simard noted goods received from a food bank only last individuals two to three days.

ARCA alone has seen a 1000 per cent increase in demand, he said, going from 8,000 pounds of food distribution four years ago to now roughly 120,000 pounds of food.

“The question really is how much more can we do?” he noted.

ARCA has been working on options to expand hours, including opening on weekends, which Simard said is urgently needed.

“Now it's really more about what can we do? Can we have volunteers show up for those extra hours? Can we find ways?”

Simard said one way to mitigate food insecurity is better collaboration with non-profits.

“I think we could collectively do more and be better if we just had some support to do so. And I think having some additional resources, larger sites, ways to streamline the process [would help].”