In schools students learn about needs and wants, needs being something you can’t live without and a want being something you’d like to have. Food is something everyone needs to survive and the Food Banks Canada attempts to help people fulfill this need.
Reported by Food Banks Canada in March 2015, 852,137 people used the food bank across the country. Use in March was 1.3 percent higher than 2014 and a total of 26 percent higher than 2008.
Food Banks Canada see over 850,000 people each month and of this number one-third of those being helped by Food Banks Canada are children.
In March of 2015 Saskatchewan saw 26,727 people offered a hand up, of this 45 percent were children. Although the number of people using food banks compared from March 2014 to March 2015 in Saskatchewan barely changed, Saskatchewan has gone up in food bank usage of 50.6 percent since the Global Financial Crisis in September of 2008.
An increased need across Canada and it has increased specifically amongst communities that were heavily reliant on the oilfield.
The Carlyle and District Food Bank was first welcomed to the area in 1989 when the ministry saw a need in southeastern Saskatchewan and has been helping people in need for the past 26 years. It was turned over to the public later and has endured as a Registered Non-Profit Organization under Food Banks Canada.
Although based in Carlyle, the food bank services communities from Stoughton to Lampman, down to Carievale, over to Redvers, and as far north as Kipling, Kennedy, and Wawota. It covers a very large area, but is determined to help people struggling with economic burdens throughout the year.
Carlyle was chosen as a central location for the area being served because the Carlyle United Church allows them a space free of rent to work within.
“Sadly we’ve seen an increase we made 63 hampers this past month and that’s up from about 25 in June,” Mavis James, the Arcola, Kisbey, and Stoughton contact explained. “We are also down in donations, we’re at about half of our cash donations, and a lot of those came from oil companies, so we understand that they’re not able to give this year.”
“It’s happened before; over the years we’ve gone up and down in both donations and hampers needed, but we’ve always managed to get by with support from the community. We’d like to thank everyone for their donations in the past and for everyone’s continued generosity, we appreciate everything.”
With cash donations, James explains, the food bank purchases fresh milk, potatoes, carrots, apples, bread, margarine, eggs, and meat each month.
“If anyone has extra beef or meat to donate it would also be greatly appreciated,” James said.
Items that the food bank is always in need of includes Kraft Dinner, brown beans, canned tins of meat, peanut butter, canned tomato soup, pastas including ichiban noodles and sidekicks, canned fruit and vegetables, and cereals.
To drop off non-perishable donations James says that the bin located after the Co-op checkout in Carlyle is a good place to leave items or people can directly contact James or Arrol Young for contributions from Arcola, Kisbey, and Stoughton, in Manor call Jaime Brimner, the contact in Redvers is Annette LeNouail, Darlene Burnett can be called in Carlyle, and Deb Phillips is in the Wawota area.
If wanting to volunteer, contact one of the aforementioned contacts to see when you may be needed.
“Anyone out there looking to help, the Monday and Tuesday before our Christmas hampers go out are always very busy setting up,” James said. “I’m thinking we’ll have quite a few Christmas hampers to fill this year.”
Requests for Christmas hampers must be into the contacts of the food bank by Friday, Dec. 4, as they will be picked up on Wednesday, Dec. 16. Donations for Christmas hampers are asked to be in early as well for the volunteers will be purchasing items and packing hampers prior to Dec. 16.
“I want to thank everybody for their generosity, the food bank appreciates everything,” James said.
