Addressing Increased Food Insecurity with Estevan Salvation Army Food Bank
Estevan Salvation Army offers many services, this includes leading the Food Bank in Estevan and area. They give out food hampers year-round monthly and participate in a school lunch program.
As the prices for food increase and economic inflation impacts people, the Estevan Food Bank has seen a drastic increase in the use of their services.
“We used to do the school lunch program at two schools, but due to the high cost of food, an influx of people using the Food Bank, and not having enough volunteers, we have cut back to one school and are limited in our capacity to deliver the service.”
From January to August 2023, the Estevan Food Bank served almost 500 additional people and over 130 additional children compared to the same period in 2022.
Reynard continued to discuss the lack of access to shelters for people facing homelessness. She says, “We don’t have a big homelessness plan in Estevan, and there are no places for homeless people to stay in the entire south east corner of Saskatchewan. Not having shelter or transitional housing makes it difficult to serve some people who need support.”
The organization’s capacity is being stretched as the demand for their service increases. This is impacting their ability to offer timely services to the people of Estevan. For example, people may call for services that they need immediately, but it can sometimes take up to two or three days to help them.
While a long-term solution to solving inflation and the impacts it has on safe and affordable housing and food insecurity is still needed, Reynard is positive that an increase in their resources can significantly impact the short-term wellbeing of the community.
“Funding is by far what we need. Everyone needs more funding right now. We need more volunteers too. We’re doing the best we can with what we have, but with the increased need for food, more funding is needed to increase our capacity to serve people well.”
