The Thanksgiving food drive brought in almost double last year’s donations for the Sunshine Coast Food Bank (SCFB) in Sechelt. Over 4,500 kg of food were donated on Sept. 19, compared to slightly less than 2,500 kg last year.
“We don’t have a huge amount of room, so that influx of [4,500 kg] was pretty impressive,” SCFB coordinator Dale Sankey said. “It took myself and the volunteers about four days to actually sort it all.”
Sankey estimated that the 4,500 kg of food would last them about three months.
The SCFB has about 1,300 registered households who rely on their services. Some are families but many are single, according to Sankey.
“About one third of our clients are children,” she said.
There was a spike in the influx of clients a few years ago, Sankey said, but it has been mostly stable since then. Although, she said, the demographics have changed somewhat.
“One of the trends that we’re starting to see is people over 55, in particular women,” Sankey said. “They’re retiring and maybe their health isn’t as good, maybe they had a spouse but the spouse is no longer alive, or is sick. Typically women don’t earn as much and they have a lesser pension.”
Sankey said that this trend is being seen across Canada as more and more of the baby boomer generation retires.
“Their pension may be $1,000 a month but their accommodation may be $700, which is pretty typical around here,” Sankey said. “It’s pretty easy to see that that doesn’t leave a lot of money over.”
There are four food banks on the Sunshine Coast. Harvest of Hope is run by the Salvation Army in Gibsons and is open once a month for distribution. People can visit them on any Tuesday of the month that they choose, but only once a month.
St Bartholomew’s Church in Gibsons has a distribution day on the third Wednesday of every month. Pender Harbour Community Church has a distribution day on the first and third Monday of every month and the SCFB has distribution days on every Tuesday and Wednesday.
SCFB volunteers give out bread and produce. Every other week they give out groceries as well as the bread and produce – foods like rice, oatmeal, lentils, barley, powdered milk and canned goods.
SCFB volunteers give out approximately between 2,000 and 2,500 items of food on grocery weeks, Sankey said.
The SCFB is starting its Christmas Kettle campaign on Nov. 21.
