THUNDER BAY — Coming up with new ideas to fundraise, earn more cash and different ways to repurpose food is not a new concept to food banks across the province.
At the Regional Food Distribution Association, executive director Volker Kromm says it's something they are continuously tasked with as food and other costs continue to climb.
"We were doing a lot more food reclamation with the help of all the retailers and the wholesalers, and the local farmers if we can get donated food that is healthy, and avoid going to landfill.
"We're repurposing it and sending it back out into meals, healthy meals, which is good news for us. So we're in a position now where we're taking food that's coming to us and making new meals," Kromm said.
As food prices climb, so do overhead costs. Kromm noted the cost of running the RFDA warehouse increased by 44 per cent, and their administration costs only grew by 18 per cent.
He said volunteers have been a major player in keeping things running at the association.
"We could not function without the volunteers because right now we're short-staffed, and we are trying to run the organization with the demands being increased. If I had to fill all the vacancies, that's an increase of 33 per cent, and I don't know where the money would come from.
"Now we have, for the first time, food here in our warehouse that came from Feed Ontario, which is a response to all the pressures, and that'll last at max till the end of March. So it seems busy, but it'll all be gone very soon."
Kromm said the RFDA is working towards having a meat room so whole carcasses can be processed at the warehouse directly.
It all comes down to money.
"It's always comes down to money. If we have to buy, we have to be able to focus our monies on the proteins and the vegetables and the fibre products that we can feed. But money is always the issue because right now, it's a shortfall. We've short-staffed ourselves to be able to keep the doors open," he said.
While the need for food and cash donations is ever prevalent, Kromm doesn't want to continuously tax the community with the asks.
"At some point, we can't tax the communities too much, and we have to look for alternate ways. We'll be working with wholesalers. We'll try to rescue more food. We'll try to push more food through the food process."
Various types of donations can be made to the RFDA through its website and to food donation collection bins at grocery stores across the city.
