Prince Albert Food Bank sees spike in number of working people

Prince Albert's Food Bank has been seeing an increase in new clients and the largest increase is among people with jobs.

“We are seeing a big increase in employed households coming in. It used to be about eight to 10 per cent of the traffic," Prince Albert Food Bank executive director Kim Scruby said. "Now that’s gone up to about 30 per cent in the last couple of months,”

He estimated about 20 per cent of those coming to the food bank this month are first-time clients.

“The feedback we’re getting is the increase in the cost of living with gas prices going up.”

The number of hampers given out each month at Prince Albert Food Bank has also steadily increased: April 818, May 1,045, June 1,118, and July 1,141.

Scruby says food bank hampers helped feed about 3,300 people last month.

Prince Albert is following along with some of the national trends identified by Food Banks Canada (FBC) in June.

“Demand is expected to remain high throughout the summer months as more and more Canadians struggle to cope with rising inflation,” FBC CEO Kirstin Beardsley said in a media release.

Sixty-one per cent of Canadians said rising housing costs are the biggest barrier preventing them from being able to afford food, according to FBC's most recent data.

“In the past, people would turn to food banks during times of job loss, or due to lower wages — but over the past six months, Canadians are telling us that they are running out of money for food because of rising housing, gas, energy and food costs,” Bearsley said.

The Bernice Sayese Centre held three free community barbecues this summer to bring the community together and help people stretch their food budgets.

“Just to fight the hunger problem that we are having especially in our community; our older citizens, our kids our youth,” Bernice Sayese Centre community worker Cody Michelle told CTV News.

He said the centre sees a number of people every week in need of food. The centre provides bread to seniors, snacks for youth and emergency groceries to those in need.

Michelle said he believes food budgets are shrinking because prices have gone up.

Donations from stores and local individuals have helped them meet the increased demand for hampers, Scruby said.

“It’s time to tackle hunger at its root causes by improving access to affordable housing and piloting innovative, long-term income supports,” Beardsley said.

FBC encouraged concerned citizens to support their local food banks with donations.