BARRHEAD – Barrhead and District Family Community Support Services (FCSS) executive director Karen Gariepy is concerned about the health of the food bank if demand remains as high as it is.
Unfortunately, Gariepy told Town of Barrhead councillors during their Oct. 11 meeting that she expects demand to remain steady, if not rise.
"The need for food banks has increased countrywide, and we are no different here in Barrhead," she said.
She noted that for the immediate future, the food bank is financially OK, but if they continue to spend money at their current rate, they will end up depleting their resources.
"We know we have enough to get us past the Christmas season, but we will have to brace ourselves for what is coming in the new year," Gariepy said.
Unfortunately, she believes the need for the food bank is only going to increase in the upcoming winter months.
Gariepy noted that the Barrhead FCSS is part of the Alberta Poverty Reduction Network and said that the cost of food, utilities, and housing is definitely on their radar.
"Winter is coming, and for a lot of people, it is going to get worse before it gets better," she said.
In preparation, Gariepy said food bank staff have "tightened" what they include in each hamper.
"Last year, we had a lot more grant funding available to buy food, but those grants are no longer available," she said.
As a result, Gariepy noted that FCSS has reduced the money they spend on food from $10,000 to between $5,000-$6,000 a month, she said.
To illustrate how much of the food bank's budget that represents she said from January to June 2022, the food bank received about $13,000 in donations.
"We do have some money in the bank, which is carrying us through, but we are hoping that we get a lot of donations through the Christmas season to help get us through 2023," Gariepy said. "After that, we hope new grant funding will become available."
In September, the food bank served 147 people, with several being children, including three between newborns to two years old; nine were from three to five years old; 25 were between six and 11 years old; and 37 were between 12-17 years old.
As for adult clients, 21 were between 21-30 years old; 42 were between 31-44 years old; 60 were between 45-64 years old, and there were 24 over 65 years old.
Gariepy noted that one of the age groups trending upwards is the 65-plus category.
In 2021, the food bank served 614 different individuals. Of those, the food bank served 423 on multiple occasions, and 192 were new users.
Of those 614 people, Gariepy said, many were single.
Reasons given by clients for food bank usage in September were unexpected expenses; school expenses; underemployment and low wages; cost of housing and utilities; loss of employment; inadequate social supports; medical expenses and family breakup.
Presently, Gariepy said 156 Barrhead Elementary School students have signed up for the hot lunch program, with 14 receiving a subsidy of some sort.
She added that she expects the number of students receiving a subsidy to increase, noting that because of the increasing cost of food, they had to bump up the price to $4 a meal up from $3. She also added that for the 2021-2022 school year, 30 students received a subsidy.
Gariepy noted that juggling the budgets of community programs, such as the food bank, is challenging because of the Barrhead FCSS' unique structure as a non-profit society.
She said while being a society gives them the flexibility to run community programs that other FCSS organizations cannot, it also means that those programs must be funded entirely from a combination of grants and community donations.
FCSS organizations receive operational grants from the province and the municipalities they serve. This funding must go towards programming that is preventative in nature. Barrhead FCSS also operates as a private contractor, providing programming for the province. A prime example is the Family Connections Centre, which is operated as a hub service under the province's Family Resource Networks (FRN).
"We can't use FCSS dollars for community programming. That is everything from the food bank to Coats for Kids," she said.
Unfortunately, the number of outside grants and the dollars available for such programming are shrinking.
In the last year, Gariepy said, she must have applied for upwards of 10 grants. The only ones that have been successful are those for the food bank.
"The amount of grants applications coming to the dollars that are actually available is astronomical," she said, adding she has inquired from the departments and organizations that rejected FCSS' applications about what they could've done differently … Nothing, they say, you've done a great application. There is not enough money to go around."
Later in the meeting, Gariepy said that in 2021, the food bank received approximately $100,000 in grants for food and equipment.
"This year, we've received $20,000," she said.
Coun. Dave Sawatzky asked if there was a way the food bank could access food from grocery stores and restaurants that had passed its due date but were still safe to consume.
Gariepy replied that food banks are allowed to give out expired products, mostly that are boxed or canned, and they often have access to those products.
"What we are lacking in our community is the end-of-life produce," she said, adding that they are currently in negotiations with local grocery stores and restaurants to get more of those foods.
Gariepy said presently, they have a volunteer that goes to Spruce Grove every week to pick up end-of-life produce from their grocery retailers.
"(The Whitecourt) food bank has offered us some of the end-of-life produce they receive," she said, adding that, at this time, they cannot accept the offer.
"When we properly set up, we will be able to go to Whitecourt regularly and pick up produce and frozen goods," Gariepy said. "It is my goal to work with our local restaurants and grocers to be able to do that here."
Coun. Don Smith said he was disheartened to learn that grant funding, especially at the federal and provincial government levels, was becoming sparser.
"As we move forward, it is going to be tough to maintain these types of programs locally," he said. "Without the funding of the federal and provincial governments, we could have anarchy ... Governments, ours included, need to be concerned about social programs because as time goes on, I fear every year, you are going to have a sadder story to tell us."
