As the busiest time of the year arrives, the Central Okanagan Food Bank says demand for support is growing faster than they can keep up.
“We are preparing for holiday hampers,” said Trina Speiser, the food bank’s development director. Staff say the need this year is noticeably higher, with Executive Director Trevor Moss calling the increase “huge.”
“Unfortunately, from this time last year to now, it’s a 19-per cent increase for us,” Moss said.
Much of that demand is coming from the region’s most vulnerable residents, children. Speiser says 44 per cent of the food bank’s clients are under the age of 15, nearly double the national average of 23 per cent.
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On Thursday, the Central Okanagan Food Bank launched its annual Holiday Hamper Campaign, which is expected to support more than 4,500 households in Kelowna and West Kelowna.
“Demand is real, it’s there,” Moss said. “It’s driven by the cost of living and the cost of food. We feel like a bit of a broken record, but that is the reality of where we are.”
The pressure is not limited to the Okanagan. The Saanich Peninsula Lions Food Bank near Victoria has begun turning people away because of a lack of supply. A hunger report shows food bank usage has climbed 32 per cent since 2019, while donations have declined.
Moss says the hope is that the community steps up before the holidays so they can continue offering the same level of support.
“What we’re hoping for this holiday season is that donations meet the need so that we don’t have to pull back on what we’re offering,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate we haven’t had to do that over the last three or four years, but the pressure keeps building.”
He adds that even small contributions have a big impact.
“We want to remind people that when they give one dollar, that actually buys three dollars’ worth of food,” Moss said.
“We just got an amazing deal on turkeys, so if people give us $25, we can actually get two or three turkeys with that.”
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