KAKABEKA FALLS — As demand for food increases in the economic downturn, rural food banks may have to get “creative” to attract cash and donations if the regional agency that’s always supported them can’t do so in the same way it has, says its long-time executive director.
“We don’t want to cut back, but really, we can’t supply them with all of their needs,” Regional Food Distribution Association (RFDA) executive director Volker Kromm said on Wednesday.
“They’re going to have to become more independent.”
Some have already adopted that approach. The Rural Cupboard Food Bank in Kakabeka Falls, for example, has a comedy night fundraiser lined up for the end of next month.
Kromm, who is based in Thunder Bay, said demand at area food banks spiked by nearly 40 per cent last year as grocery prices soared with inflation. It was a similar story at food banks across the country, noted Kromm, who has headed the RFDA since 2009.
The value of the food the RFDA collected and distributed in the past year is getting close to $3 million — about $1 million more than previous years, Kromm said.
Last fall, he told community and business leaders the RFDA was at a “breaking point” and that similar agencies across the province were on the verge of shutting their doors.
“The seriousness of the situation cannot be overstated,” Kromm wrote in an open letter.
The end of January is always a challenging period because that’s when food banks start to run low on food and cash that rolled in during the holiday season.
“People haven’t forgotten about us; of course, they haven’t, but sometimes there has to be a reminder that everyone needs to eat 365 days of the year,” Kromm said.
He noted recent layoffs at Impala Canada’s Lac Des Iles palladium mine east of the city and the shutdown at Terrace Bay’s pulp mill, which alone put 400 people out of work.
Even the RFDA itself is looking at ways to stretch supplies, Kromm said, such as taking more frozen food in bulk and re-packaging it for distribution.
While food donations are always welcomed, Kromm said, “cash is king” because it allows food banks to buy perishables and “healthy food” items like meat, bread, milk and eggs.
Popular items, like pasta sauce, “go off the shelves quickly,” Kromm said.
The comedy-night fundraiser for the Rural Cupboard Food Bank is set for Feb. 24 at Conmee’s community centre at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at the community centre or at Evergreen Pharmacy.
The Chronicle Journal / Local Journalism Initiative
