Increased demand for the services of The Salvation Army Food Bank is dwindling its stock of food to help local families struggling to make it.
inSide Drumheller, a new weekly in the valley published every Friday, reported in its May 8 edition that the food bank stocks were in danger of falling to the point where it might not be able to keep up with the demand. Forward one month, and this prediction is coming to fruition.
“It’s pretty close to being a crisis,” said Dave Graham of The Salvation Army “I’ve never seen the shelves this bare at this time of the year. It’s crazy.”
Through the late winter and early spring the demand, at times nearly doubled. Overall Graham said the demand is up about 25 per cent over last year. Often in the early spring, many clients are trying to dig out of their higher utility bills from the winter.
Graham makes it clear these are people in need.
“Some clients are waiting for EI, while others are facing cut hours,” he said. “These are the working poor, people in crisis. 30 hours a week at $10 an hour doesn’t cut it.”
He said since the last time the food bank alerted the community to the impending situation, people have been donating.
“But if we have a heavy week our supplies go down,” he said.
Right now, he says they have enough tinned soup to last through, but many of the other necessities are running low.
“We’re almost completely out of staples, “ he said. “When you look at our coffee, we only have enough for two weeks at most.”
“We may have to look at another food fundraiser,” he said.
Spaces still available for Camp for Kids
With summer coming up there are still a few spots available for The Salvation Army Summer comp for kids. They are also looking for more sponsors able to sponsor a student for the camp.
For more information, contact Sherry Berry at 403-823-2215.
