UNITY — In a July 5 story on SASKTODAY.ca, 'We’re addressing the symptom, not the cause': A look at food banks across Canada - Â鶹´«Ã½AV.ca, the word crisis comes up quickly when speaking with those who run food banks across Canada.
The story says, with inflation driving food prices higher, while wages and support programs lag, numerous directors say demand on Canada’s food banks is greater than ever.
“Unity Food Bank is still doing ‘OK’ even with summer slow down,” committee member Tomi Watt says.
“People are tending to donate cash rather than product as they know the price of expiration date products is high, such as meat, milk and produce.”
The SASKTODAY.ca story says Regina Food Bank, two years ago, provided 160 boxes of groceries a day, today that number is 350 boxes of groceries a day. A spokesperson echoes the statement that are addressing the symptom but not the cause.
Some people ask, should a food bank even have to exist in Canada in 2023? The Regina Food Bank, like all food banks in Canada, was intended to be a temporary response to high inflation and high costs, which is eerily similar to today.
Watt says, however, that Unity Food Bank is busier now than it was during COVID-19. It is thought that inflation and the overall economic situation in the country are contributing to that.
Unity Food Bank says they will accept garden produce and farm eggs. Product or monetary donations can be dropped off at the Unity Community Resource Centre and the co-ordinator there will ensure the food bank committee gets them.
Important to note is that Unity Food Bank volunteers are not there all day.
“We help our clients by appointment only,” Watt says.
All food distributed by Unity’s Food Bank is purchased locally.
“New clients are being asked to provide us with their health card number and the card numbers of those in their household, their driver’s license, a source of income and a proof of residency like a lease agreement, a water or power bill,” she explains.
The food bank committee continues to acknowledge the generosity of the community of caring people, businesses, schools, and churches. While summertime might be slower for donations to some community food banks, Unity’s location knows the community remains committed to fall food drives and other activities throughout the year that includes a give-back component for the local food bank shelves.
