MOOSOMIN — In March, the Moosomin Food Share gained its Standard of Excellence designation from Food Banks Canada, which is a set of national standards in the areas of governance and administration, people management, financial and legal, client service and care, public engagement and fundraising and food operations and safety standards.
Meeting the national standards is a requirement of affiliation with Food Banks Canada.
“It’s well worth it for us to be affiliated with it, even just for the grants alone,” explained Samantha Campbell, administrator of the Moosomin Thrift Store & Food Share, adding that they also receive food donations from Food Banks Canada.
“We wouldn’t have our freezers or the tables, our aero gardens — pretty much all of our capital in the food bank is through grants from Food Banks Canada. Plus, even just the food shipments, about quarterly, we get a pallet full of food through them.”
The Moosomin Food Share is also the only food bank outside of Regina and Saskatoon to have the accreditation. Food banks that are not accredited can still operate, but as a volunteer-run system, and not affiliated with Food Banks Canada.
“It surprised me how much detail they were actually asking for, how in-depth,” Campbell said. “We had a policy of maybe 20 pages, and now we’re at about 113.”
Food Banks Canada will be helping the food bank network to adopt the new standards, and throughout the last fiscal year, the group has funded $1 million through the Standards of Excellence grant. There are more than 5,100 food banks within the network with the new standards established as a baseline for all those affiliated to follow.
The need is ever-growing with more than three million unique individuals in Canada having accessed a food bank last year, with 18 per cent of food bank clients being employed—the highest proportion ever recorded.
“Even at our food bank here in Moosomin, our numbers continue to rise weekly,” Campbell said. “We know now that we’re for sure accredited, we’re good to stay open, so that’s a wonderful feeling.”
