Food bank usage hits unprecedented levels: report

June Caissie has been using food banks for around 10 years.

She’s living on social assistance and has some health issues, so she needs to visit Moncton’s Peter McKee Community Food Centre on a regular basis.

Around $50 a month is all she can budget for her groceries because her rent recently went up.

“If it hadn’t been for the food bank, I think I would be passed away by now because of a lack of food or whatever,” said Caissie. “You can tell anybody that, but when you live and you walk in that person’s shoes, you sure as heck find out real fast that it isn’t easy.”

Caissie said prices at the grocery store have “skyrocketed” post-pandemic and that’s why she’s so grateful for the food bank’s help.

“If you can’t survive by your own standards or your own doing, at least you know that they’re there and you can get help,” said Caissie.

A report from Food Banks Canada this week states there were almost two million visits to food banks in March 2023, an unprecedented level.

That’s an increase of 32 per cent from the same time last year and 78.5 per cent since March 2019 -- the highest year-over-year increase ever reported.

Food Banks Canada CEO Kirstin Beardsley said the increase is due to two things: the cost of living and social assistance programs.

“The first is a broken social safety net which has seen government neglect for decades and far too many people are falling through,” said Beardsley.

Beardsley said the thing that jumped out at her the most was the number.

“We’ve seen the growth in food bank use over the last couple of years,” said Beardsley. “Once you get to these big numbers, to see another enormous jump in the number of people who need food banks, two million visits in a single month, behind that big number are real people. They’re real people’s lives. Real families, real individuals who are struggling.”

The Peter McKee community food centre had 318 new clients in September and a total of 2,251 individual appointments.

General manager Christine Taylor expects the number of new clients to grow by more than 400 this month.

“It’s very busy out there. Some days we’re up to 200 appointments a day which is more than doubled since this time last year,” said Taylor.

Seniors, children, the working poor, and newcomers make up the more than 5,200 people the centre serves a month.

Generally speaking, Taylor said the highest amount of clients are usually people on social assistance, but that’s changing.

“We’re seeing for the first time ever more people that have full time employment and some of them have two jobs, and both people in the family are working and coming to the food bank,” said Taylor.

Taylor said it’s not just inflation and the high cost of living bringing people in, it’s rents jumping significantly.

“People kind of budget for those little increases each year, five per cent, but when you’re up to two hundred dollar increases out of the blue that takes away from your food budget,” said Taylor.

Patricia Roberts and Carl Stevens are volunteers at the centre and both have definitely noticed more people coming through the doors in the past year.

Roberts said it can take a toll.

“It does. I think the worst is the kids coming in with their parents. That does wear on me,” said Roberts.

Stevens, who has been at the centre since it opened in 2016, said he’s retired and volunteering gives him a sense of accomplishment.

“I like to help people out and I find it’s very rewarding,” said Stevens.

The Peter McKee Community Food Centre is actively searching for new volunteers.

More clients means less on the shelves.

Taylor said they simply don’t have enough to meet the needs of 200 appointments a day and they’ve had to reduce the amount of food given to clients.

“We don’t have a big pot of money to sustain this. We are struggling and unfortunately we’ve had to make some difficult decisions,” said Taylor.

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