The Westlock and District Food Bank received some much-needed financial help but still finds itself in a bad way with high demand, limited funds and higher-than-ever grocery prices.
On July 27 the food bank received a $2,000 donation from the Westlock Elks bingo fund, while on July 28 they received a $1,000 monthly commitment from Westlock County for the last six months of 2015.
The Elks provide the food bank with rent-free space and are also a key financial contributor to the organization.
“Not only do the Elks give us two rooms free of charge, but they give us a donation at lease twice a year,” said the food bank’s past president Sister Eileen Boyle. “They are very generous.”
Members of the food bank attended Westlock County council’s July 28 meeting to give an update and to ask for financial assistance.
“We serve a large number of people, many work two jobs at minimum wage — they can’t make ends meet,” said Sister Eileen at the council meeting.
“In the last few months our numbers are really up high.”
The food bank, which is a completely volunteer-run organization, has no annual budget and only works with the monetary and food donations they get.
Sister Eileen said that in June they spent over $7,000 on groceries and were able to serve nearly 500 people — 280 were from the town, while 214 hailed from the county.
The food bank serves nearly 100 screened and approved customers each Tuesday, however funding often comes in lump sums around the holidays.
“People think of the food bank at Christmas and Easter, but we need money throughout the year, especially in the summer,” Sister Eileen said.
Members of the food bank also brought along a sample basket along to show what customers receive
“What we buy is certainly not gourmet and it’s large quantities that we divide into small baggies,” Sister Eileen said.
“Last year I itemized all the costs of everything we hand out and in January one person would roughly get 27 items in their hamper (costing) $43,” added Wanda McMillan, who’s in charge of buying for the food bank.
“In June we cut that back to 20 items and the cost is about $30. We totally eliminated meat and a lot of other products that cost more because we just don’t have the money.”
The local Boston Pizza has also answered the call and recently donated $3,000 from its annual charity golf tournament.
Food bank president Sharon Kennedy said before donations started coming in there was as little as $2,000 in the bank — less than one month’s supply of food.
She said the donations received in the last week will help operations continue into the fall.
“It helps us quite a bit because we’ll have enough funds to keep going for another couple of months,” Kennedy said, adding she wanted to extend a sincere thank you to the entire community.
“We couldn’t do it without them.”
Anyone who would like to make a monetary or food donation can contact Kennedy at 780-349-4404 to make arrangements.
