Prince Rupert’s only food bank has seen a jump in the number of clients coming through its doors this past year.
Salvation Army’s Capt. Gary Sheils says there’s been a consistent rise in the number of families looking for food.
“We had a sharp increase last year,” he said.
Previously, there was a fairly steady number of 225 families using the food bank per month. This number rose to 300 to 325 families over the last year, and Sheils is expecting to serve a similar number of families this year.
He attributes the close of Extra Foods grocery store as the biggest reason for the increase of families to the food bank, saying that it’s now harder for families to stretch their food dollars.
Families receive canned goods and meat at the food bank. Sheils says he'd like to improve on the program by giving out fresh produce and milk, but says that's unlikely to happen as it's extremely expensive.
“What we do costs an awful lot of money,” Sheils said.
While the Salvation Army gets food donations throughout the year, it also gets revenue from its Thrift Store, the Red Shield, and the government to buy food. The food bank received $96,000 from the federal government through a community grant last year, the first time that's happened in six or seven years, Sheils says.
The Salvation Army also gets its money from fundraising in the community. Its December fundraising campaign, with Christmas Kettles and letters mailed to businesses and homes, generated around $140,000.
Most of this money goes to support Christmas hampers. This past Christmas, the food bank spent around $90,000 helping almost 900 families.
The remaining $50,000 raised from this campaign goes towards the food bank and soup kitchen expenses for the rest of the year.
In addition to the food bank, the Salvation Army runs a soup kitchen, and it serves up 150 to 175 meals a day in breakfasts and lunches. Sheils estimates they served around 50,000 meals last year.
“The days we're open, we're pretty busy,” Sheils said, explaining that it is only food bank in town.
The food bank is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. by appointment.