Alberta food banks call $10M from province a ‘beautiful gift’

Edmonton’s Food Bank is calling the provincial government’s $10 million pledge for food banks and community organizations a “beautiful gift.”

The province’s food banks will receive $3.7 million immediately. An additional $4.1 million will be available through grant applications.

Another $2.2 million will go towards creating a program to coordinate the needs of food banks during emergency situations such as natural disasters.

“This beautiful gift from the province of Alberta will help bridge us and provide some much-needed support as we go through these challenges,” said Marjorie Bencz, executive director of Edmonton’s Food Bank.

Food banks in Alberta – and across Canada – are struggling to keep up with demand. More and more people are turning to food banks due to the rising cost of living.

Edmonton’s Food Bank served more than 37,000 people through their hamper program alone in August.

“The challenge we’ve had as an organization is the number of agencies approaching us for food, as well as the number of people approaching us for food,” said Bencz.

To keep up with demand, Edmonton’s Food Bank has had to change the size of their food hampers and increase hours of operations.

“And we doubled our staff to an outstanding number of four in our ‘Beyond Food’ program to accommodate for example Ukrainians and other people who are looking for free tickets and resume support,” said Bencz.

“We have made changes to try to address the outstanding need in our community.”

The situation is no different in the rest of the province. The Calgary Food Bank has seen a 140 per cent increase in client visits compared to before the pandemic.

“In just the last year, we have seen an over 30 per cent increase in client visits,” said Melissa From, president and CEO of the Calgary Food Bank. “We are seeing the impacts of our cost-of-living crisis every single day where access to nutritious food is becoming increasingly unattainable for people who would have otherwise never imagined that they would need this help.”

Both Bencz and From welcomed the province’s $10 million investment.

“It’s becoming harder and harder to be able to buy groceries, and often Albertans are having to choose between paying rent and/or buying food, and that challenge is increasingly becoming more significant,” said Jason Nixon, the minister of seniors, community and social services.

In a statement, the Opposition NDP puts some of the blame on the current UCP government not being proactive.

“The UCP has failed Albertans,” said Marie Renaud, Alberta NDP critic for social services. “Demand on food banks is so high that they can’t keep up, and this is not something the government should be celebrating.

“The UCP are ignoring their responsibility for pushing Albertans into poverty. This government has driven up costs on utilities, auto insurance, and tuition, they made a mess out of AISH and Seniors Benefits over the last four years, and now they’re threatening to go after Albertans retirement security by pulling out of the CPP.”

Nixon says the federal carbon tax was a factor in the affordability crisis.

“That’s because everywhere from the farm, to transportation to grocery stores, to the grocery stores themselves are impacted by that carbon tax, and we will continue to call on the federal government to join our ambition to make things a little bit easier for Albertans as we face this unprecedented challenge,” he said.