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(Photo courtesy of Red Deer Food Bank)
The Red Deer Food Bank is continuing to see an increase in demand for services.
The annual Hunger Count 2024 report released by Food Banks Canada stated that nationally, food bank visits have almost doubled in five years, and local statistics aren’t far behind.
In March 2019, the Red Deer Food Bank served 621 emergency food hampers. By March 2024, 1,124 hampers were distributed, an increase of 81 per cent.
“We’ve been saying for a while that we appear to be serving twice as many people as we did five years ago,” said Mitch Thomson, Executive Director of the Red Deer Food Bank. “We are not far off in our estimates. There are seasons where demand can fluctuate, such as times when people may be able to find seasonal work, which alleviates some of their immediate concerns. But the trend is most definitely on a steep increase.”
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The report also indicated that nearly 30 per cent of food banks across Canada reported running out of food through the year, including the Red Deer Food Bank.
“Certainly, we’ve seen twice now in under a year when the shelves in the warehouse were absolutely empty of stock,” Thomson said. “We make the community aware of the situation, and we’re always astounded at the generous and energetic response from the community to step up in our times of need.”
In Red Deer, nearly 40 per cent of the clientele are children, who rely on the food bank to eat.
“The problem is not getting any better, and we don’t see it improving any time soon,” Thomson said.
Food Banks across Canada are working to address immediate and long-term food insecurity.
“Here at the Red Deer Food Bank, we are working on social enterprises that provide food services that support our hamper program, and now we are developing our own food production capacity to secure sources of fresh produce,” Thomson said. “These are just a few of the positive steps we can take to help alleviate hunger today and prevent hunger tomorrow. But we need continuous, year-round support to get us through those lean months.”
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