Calgary food bank slows demand growth by nearly 200 per cent in five years

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Total annual visits to the Calgary food bank are up 28 per cent from last year, a change much higher than the national average, according to president and CEO Melissa Frome.

Even more alarming, Frome said, is that the percentage of food bank clients who are employed is 37 per cent, which is higher than the national and provincial average.

“TThis means wages are not keeping up with the rising cost of living,” she said.

“Today we are serving more clients at the Calgary Food Bank than ever before,” Frome said Monday.

By the end of 2024, they will serve nearly 175,000 emergency food baskets, up from 68,000 in 2019, according to From, representing a nearly 200 percent increase over five years.

“Even if you look at 2023 to 2024, (there was) an increase of about 26 percent in the number of baskets we distribute,” Frome said.

In March of this year Calgary Food Bank they had 40,841 visits and served 750 households in the city six days a week.

Frome says despite the increased demand, they are also seeing fewer donations from the general public.

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“People are struggling to make ends meet, they may not be giving as much. . . and you know, we bear those costs as well,” she said. “The reality is that we buy a lot of food, especially certain foods like protein and dairy products.”

Calgary’s growth could boost demand and for them too, Frome explained.

“People come for opportunity, and then they come here and they struggle to find work, they struggle to find housing. “It’s also all about (people) lining up at our door looking for help.”

Frome says they are part of the solution and will continue to play a role in empowering Calgarians to help others in their city.

“The other side of the solution really has to come from three different levels of government negotiating how they can ensure that Canadians, Albertans and Calgarians can keep more of their hard-earned money and be able to afford food on the table. for their families.”

One of the recommendations from Food Banks Canada CEO Kirstin Beardsley: “ benefits on food and essentials“, which she said could be achieved by changing the existing quarterly GST credit that is provided to low-income Canadians.

— With files from The Canadian Press and Postmedia.

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