If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a community village to fight poverty.
The St. Albert Food Bank has adopted the “It takes a village” motto in order to give their clients a hand up, not just a handout.
Food bank staff and volunteers will be showcasing the community village and the organization’s new facility at an open house on April 25.
“Giving out food once a month isn’t the answer,” said Suzan Krescy, food bank executive director. “Our enhanced services look at the underlying root cause.”
Over the last several years, the St. Albert Food Bank & Community Village has developed a total of 14 programs that target the causes of poverty. Krescy explained every time staff identified a need, a program to address that need was built to create a community of support services.
Programs include a community kitchen, guided meditation, yoga, financial and food literacy classes, group therapy for stress reduction and advocacy for child benefits and health and financial assistance for persons with disabilities.
The majority of the food bank’s clients suffer from mental health issues, substance abuse or domestic violence. Single females are often the head of a household, noted Krescy.
“These issues walk through the door every single day,” she said, attributing the decline in food bank clientele from 135 families in 2012 to 116 families in 2013 to the success of the community village programming.
In order to combat the reasons why individuals need to access the food bank, clients sit down with a community liaison when they come to pick up their food hamper. The liaison, a registered social worker, assesses their needs and refers them to different community supports These could include affordable childcare, housing, counselling, or help writing a resume. The liaison hands out hundreds of referrals per year, accounted Krescy.
“We create a unique plan of action for everyone so we don’t pigeon-hole people and try to fit them into the system,” she said. Krescy, who is also the board chair of the Alberta Food Bank Network Association, is actively advocating the community village concept for other food banks across the province to adopt.
Creation of the community village began three years ago. The food bank board worked with community partners to ensure none of the services would be duplicated and also arranged for certain programs to be self-sustaining. The majority of programming is facilitated by volunteers, of which there are more than 100.
Fourteen community village programs are now running. A legal assistance program run by Faculty of Law students from the University of Alberta will start in May.
“This was the best kept secret in town, we had to have our programming solid,” said Krescy, adding the food bank acts as a crisis intervention centre while the community village is the solution-focused, preventative component.
The community village won’t be the only thing the food bank will be showcasing at its open house as the organization moved into a larger facility in February, which allows for nearly 7,000 square feet of additional space. The food bank is now waiting for a wheelchair lift to make the building “completely barrier free.”
“Our families don’t enjoy coming here to get food, but if they know there’s someone on the other side of the doors to help them, it takes away their anxiety,” added Krescy.
The St. Albert Food Bank & Community Village will be hosting an open house on Thursday, April 25 from 1 to 8 p.m.
