Food bank says cash donations are ‘critical’

The Regina Food Bank is aggressively planning for a growth in demand for its services as economic hardships occur due to the COVID -19 pandemic, making cash donations a vital need.

John Bailey, the CEO of the Regina Food Bank, said Monday that the organization is stocked with enough food to last another four or five weeks. It is still accepting new clients, but if the food supply begins to dry up, it will be forced to put limits on its services.

“We can only ask our retail partners to do so much. We will then be looking at trying to figure out either restricting new enrolments or potentially changing our delivery model entirely and potentially getting less food to people.

Bailey said cash donations are currently “critical” for the food bank so it can continue to pay its staff and buy food.

“The most important thing people can do to support the food bank right now is actually donate money so we can allocate it to the resources that we need to stay open.”

With businesses shutting down and economic pressures increasing, Bailey said the food bank is projecting “heavy growth.”

At the same time it’s facing a potential increase in usage, the food bank has to work with precautions being put in place to limit the spread of COVID -19. Between this week and the end of the month, Bailey said the food bank has had to cancel 900 volunteer hours.

“So our ability to do food sorting and everything has gone way down, which is why we need to start controlling our supply chain.”

The food bank has put increased cleaning protocols in place on frequently touched surfaces. In some cases, physical barriers are being put up to create the minimum one-metre distance between people. Bailey said it’s not an ideal environment, but is necessary.

Food hampers, which clients would previously bag themselves, are now being handed off in bags and boxes so they can be picked up immediately.

Compared with other food banks, Bailey said Regina’s is in a good position in that it has the luxury of figuring out future delivery plans while continuing to serve food. However, he said four or five weeks is not long in the grand scheme of things, making the need for monetary donations urgent.

“If donations start to dry up and we’re not able to support our non-profits, there’s going to be more organizations going in reduced hours, reduced operation modes, and we’ll be one of them.”

Monetary donations can be made at reginafoodbank.ca/donate.