Photo courtesy Salvation Army Grande Prairie and Area Facebook

By Curtis Galbraith

Community

Demand still “pretty high” at Grande Prairie’s Food Bank

Feb 7, 2023 | 6:00 AM

Officials at the Food Bank in Grande Prairie say the number of people needing help is still “pretty high.”

Salvation Army Captain Peter Kim spoke to city council at its Monday meeting.

He says while demand seems to be plateauing, it is still too high to maintain their level of service.

“Typically, we’re able to provide for, let’s say, five to seven per cent of the population and when it’s going up to ten or 12 or 19 per cent, then we’re struggling to keep everyone fed.”

Kim says 2,682 new individuals used the food bank in 2022 with a total of 10,461 different people coming there for help, while the number of meals served at the community kitchen more than doubled from 43,838 in 2021 to over 89,000 last year. That number was at around 27,000 in 2020.

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He adds 88 per cent of the people accessing the food bank have children under the age of 18.

Kim says the same factors like inflation are leading to higher demand for food bank services.

“There are people on fixed incomes who are coming to access the food bank. There are families who have children, and they are just having a hard time putting food on the table for themselves.”

“The sad thing is that some of the families that are coming would say to us that they were the donors in previous years and are now recipients.”

Kim says the people who are coming to the food bank have homes and jobs.

“The perception that it is just the homeless is not the correct perception. The perception is wrong.”

“The reality is that there are individuals, families with children (and) seniors who could be your neighbours who are accessing our food bank.”

Kim says he has started a food security initiative to look for long-term solutions to this problem.

He adds there is a food insecurity crisis not just locally, but all over the world right now.