Samaritan House Ministries has seen a substantial increase in the number of food hampers being filled at their Pacific Ave food bank in downtown Brandon. The numbers continue to alarm Executive Director, Heather Symbalisty.
"We distributed 1,731 hampers in the month of June alone, and 78 of those were brand new clients that have never accessed our services before," shares Symbalisty. "And so that meant that 13,385 kilograms of food came into our warehouse and left from June 1st to June 30th. That is a lot of food! And we at Samaritan House Ministries have purchased more non-perishable food items than ever before. We've never had to purchase like we have been," she adds.
On a more positive note, the foodbank has seen many folks share their extra vegetables from their gardens.
"Yes, we are seeing an excess amount of harvest coming to us! We've been getting some lettuce and lots of green and yellow beans coming in from various producers around the area, farmers and local residents, and the Hutterite colonies have been bringing them in. It's fantastic to see! We're just starting to get some squash coming in, so that has been very, very helpful for the clients who are accessing the food bank services. We've been low on those items for the last few months."
Once this influx of garden vegetables and fruit slows down, the foodbank will be reliant on purchasing non-perishable food to fill their shelves.
"Our food donations have been down," says Symbalisty, "but the increase in hampers has definitely been up. So, it's been a balance to try to provide the right amounts to individuals."
Samaritan House is trying to source out more protein for their clients. They are very low on frozen meat, such as chicken, beef and pork. But as monetary donations are down, they are needing to purchase meat to meet the need. But the number of hampers going out exceeds the amount of food coming in, and that chasm is growing every month.
"So, we are doing the best with what we have to provide what we can," adds Symbalisty.
"We thought that amalgamating the weekly and the monthly hampers together that we may see our numbers go down," she explains. "But, unfortunately, we haven't. They just kept creeping up. It seems everybody is accessing our services, from newcomers to students going to Brandon University or Assiniboine College, or we're seeing single parents."
"About 51% of our clientele are children and moms, so that is a huge percentage for people accessing our services," she adds.
Please listen to more with Heather Symbalisty below as she shares on some ways you can help stock their shelves.