'These people are needing help': Inflation forcing more people to use rural food banks

Blake Fullerton has never seen the coolers and the freezers at the Shepody Food Bank in the village of Riverside-Albert, N.B., as empty as they have been recently.

Fullerton has been a volunteer at the food bank for three years. 

Up to 100 families a month use the service, and according to Fullerton, that number is growing, but the supply of food is not.

"These families are needing help and they're coming to the food bank, but with empty freezers and coolers, it's going to be a very difficult winter if things don't change," said Fullerton.

The inventory comes from Moncton's Food Depot Alimentaire and is shipped from a giant warehouse that supplies food banks all around New Brunswick.

Fullerton said all food banks are struggling right now because inflation is hurting families.

The high cost of gas, groceries and utilities are forcing many to seek help. 

"A lot of our families are seasonal workers and of course right now, they are laid off and what we're finding of course is there's less pay coming into their households," he said.

Twenty minutes up the road in Hillsborough, N.B., a church offers a drop-in service with a cupboard full of basic foods and a few frozen items.

Hillsborough United Church Minister Peggy Reid said poverty and food insecurity isn't unique to big cities. 

"It's more of a hidden need because the population is small, so you don't see a lot of people roaming the streets looking for food," said Reid.

"If you walk the streets in Moncton, you can see that poverty, homelessness and a lack of food are huge issues. It's in the rural areas too, but because it's a much smaller population, you don't notice it as much and sometimes people know their neighbours and they try to help as much as they can."

Anyone in need of a few items from the cupboard can go and get what they want when the church is open. Identification is not needed.

An employee at the Food Depot Alimentaire in Moncton told CTV News on Tuesday the Shepody Food Bank is scheduled to get a full order on Wednesday including produce, frozen food and dairy.