Local food bank low on donations
Terra Ciolfe
Issue date: 11/18/08 Section: News
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The things we take for granted.
Being students, we know how hard it is to afford groceries and how expensive they can be.
Luckily for us, we really only have ourselves to look after.
This is not the case for many families in St. Catharines, who - with the recent amount of job cuts and harsh economy - find it hard to afford all the groceries that they need, resulting in many more people having to reach out to local food banks, sometimes just to make it through the week.
"A week ago we had to close our doors; we had to put signs on the door saying we had no food available; we were down to pickles, baby food and lard," said Caroline Kralt, Family Services and Community Relations Coordinator of the Salvation Army in northern St. Catharines.
The local food bank has seen a drastic increase in food bank and mobile soup truck clients since last year.
"[There is] a 48 per cent increase over last year," said Beverly Moore, Director of Family Services and Community Relations.
This increase, coupled with the seeming lack of donations, has devastating effects on the food bank and the clients that have to rely on their services every week.
On average the food bank sees approximately 150 families - 400 people - a month, compared to last year, when their average was approximately 70 families a month.
"I think one of the factors is definitely that times are tougher," said Moore. "Prices go up, utilities go up, rent goes up [and] their incomes are not increasing."
Both Kralt and Moore agree that this time of year is typically slower than other times of the year, but it has not been so bad as to necessitate having to close their doors to the public.
"We have a few resources, but it is not enough if you are starting in a negative and you have Christmas looming. How you are going to fill 400 hampers full of food [for Christmas]?" said Kralt.
The Salvation Army is also in desperate need of volunteers this holiday season, especially during their Christmas Hapmer Program this year.
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