Deer Lake food bank demand up 20 per cent DEER LAKE KATHERINE HUDSON The Western Star

Food bank organizers Sam and Pearl King distribute food from their basement in Deer Lake. — Star photo by Katherine Hudson

Across the country, the number of people utilizing food banks has increased over the past year, and Deer Lake is no exception.

Newfoundland and Labrador food bank usage is up 10 per cent from 2008, according to Food Banks Canada.

Deer Lake has felt that demand, with its organizers saying they’ve seen an increase of 20 per cent since January.

Patti Bouzanne has been volunteering with the food bank in Deer Lake for about seven years. She said due to the economic downturn, job losses and current health crisis, it’s more important than ever to emphasize the importance of food banks in communities.

“It’s important for people to have three meals a day and make sure those meals are healthy meals. The food bank is a very important part of that because it does provide food for people who find it very difficult to make ends meet. You have two people who are working both on minimum wage and they have a family? I don’t know how they feed them. Particularly when it comes to trying to get healthy foods because they’re so much more expensive,” she said.

Mildred Rogers has spearheaded the town’s food drive for three years and volunteered with the food bank for 13. She said she’s noticed the demand for food increase.

“I think the demand has gone up with the cost of living. In the winter especially, (the people’s) demands are greater. The food bank gets more calls,” she said."

Pearl and Sam King run the Deer Lake food bank from their basement, open for business five days a week.

“We used to do roughly 40 families a month and now we’re doing 45. We’re getting new people now,” said Pearl.

Pearl said they go through about $3,300 worth of food every month. She said they make care packages or baskets for families to pick up.

“Each family would get about $75 dollars worth of food (a month). We put in bread, flour, tea or coffee, milk sugar, cereal, juice and then of course there’s the canned goods. We also make sure that we have something in there for kids lunches: juice packs, fruit cups, cereal bars, things like that,” she said.

Pearl said the community supports the food bank and although the demand for food has increased, donations have not faltered.

“Our donations have always been good. We’ve never had to turn people away.”

According to Food Banks Canada, food banks in Newfoundland and Labrador support 5.9 per cent of its population, one of the highest proportions of provincial residents in Canada.

WEBLINK:
http://www.cafb-acba.ca/documents/HungerCount2009NOV16.pdf