Richmond County food bank unhappy with Feed Nova Scotia
Provincewide organization says need for food far outpaces supply
The head of a non-profit that operates a food bank in Richmond County is asking why the society has had no luck in getting support from Feed Nova Scotia.
Food 4 Children Society is based in Cape George and serves a large area of Richmond County and Port Hawkesbury areas.
Its Facebook page is filled with photos of donations from individuals, businesses and community groups, both monetary and the proceeds of food drives held on behalf of Food 4 Children. It is a registered not-forprofit society and has a couple of dozen volunteers.
But founder Paul Wall says he’s had no luck trying to obtain support from Feed Nova Scotia, which distributes food throughout the province.
“We have five food pantries within local schools, taking care of 2,500-3,000 children a week,” Wall said in an interview. “Fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, so on, backpacks of food to the home.”
He noted that Cape Breton is burdened with high rates of child poverty.
He said he has been making applications to Feed Nova Scotia but has been told it can’t support everyone. Without help from Feed Nova Scotia, Food 4 Children has to purchase food that it distributes at the retail level.
“It’s expensive for children to eat at the cafeterias,” Wall said. “We’re just one solution.”
Nick Jennery, executive director of Feed Nova Scotia, said the organization can’t give what it doesn’t have. He said they are currently at capacity and in order to distribute food to new members it would have to take away from food banks and programs that are already part of its distribution network.
“Despite being able to put 8,000 kilograms of food on our trucks on the road each and every single day … over 50 per cent of which are perishables to go to those agencies, it still only adds up to between three to five days of food per client that’s registered with a food bank per month,” he said.
“Here’s the awful dilemma, is that we need more food and funds to be able to support more agencies, it’s as simple as that ... It’s not like the
coolers are full and we’ve got two months worth of cans of something.”
Many member agencies are also at capacity and are no longer taking on new clients, Jennery added.
Last year, Feed Nova Scotia delivered $900,000 in food to Cape Breton, to 17 organizations including food banks, shelters and the Ally Centre, Jennery said. About 42 per cent of that food was fresh fruit and vegetables.
Nova Scotia has the highest level of food insecurity among the provinces, Jennery said, and the level of need demonstrates the need to address the problem at its root causes.
“As a province we cannot feed our way out of this crisis,” he said.
Feed Nova Scotia’s website notes it is a collection and distribution point and supports a member network of 146 food banks, shelters and meal programs across Nova Scotia. It also collects food from retailers around the province that can’t be sold and distributes it within its network.
In total, it distributes almost two million kilograms of donated food to its member network of food banks and meal programs across the province.
The website also notes that applications are approved based on the areas of greatest need and its capacity to support the agency requesting membership.