Last year, the number of Canadian families requesting food assistance reached an all-time high, with Alberta having the highest food bank use in the country, according to Food Banks Canada's Hunger Count Report for 2022.
Here in St. Albert this year, we have seen yet another increase. We are now assisting over 500 families each month, an increase of 100 per month over last year's totals.
There are many factors contributing to this increase. We often hear folks ask us why there is such an increase in the number of families needing our help since there is so much work "out there." Many of our clients are working families earning below the living wage threshold of $22.40 per hour. The living wage is the hourly wage a worker needs to earn to cover their basic expenses and participate in the community.
New and returning families are coming in every week, unable to afford food after their other financial obligations have been met. In addition to the inadequate income, we have been learning from many of our clients their rent has increased in some cases by as much as $300 per month in recent months. Compounding that further is the need for many to pay off additional credit card and loan debts incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Imagine being a single parent working full time, but not being able to keep things stable for your children.
We hear many stories about the stress families experience in their efforts to make ends meet. Paying rent and utilities to keep a roof over their heads sometimes means that food is the one place they try to save on, and currently, with food inflation, this is becoming an almost insurmountable challenge.
Currently, we are giving out between 63,000 to 75,000 pounds of food per month, which is why we are looking forward to our upcoming Annual Food Drive, scheduled for Sept. 16. This year we are in great need of some help filling our shelves. We have spent over $100,000 so far this year in purchasing non-perishable items for the families we serve. We don't see that slowing down too much in the future, so the food drive will go far to help us get ahead.
We will again be partnering with the Red Willow Church for the food drive — they have generously donated the 23,000 bags we will distribute to households before the drive.
We can't do what we do without the incredible support of this community, and we are asking that if you have the time to help us distribute the bags and to pick up the filled bags, please contact our volunteer coordinator at [email protected] and he can get you signed up for an area.
Thank you all for your continuing support through these very challenging times. The generosity and thoughtfulness of this community certainly does not go unnoticed by the staff, volunteers and families we support.
