Charities feel pinch of rising inflation, increased demand and food insecurity
Groups forced to come up with creative ways to use resources during holidays
As interest rates, the cost of living and the price of food continue to rise, many Calgary charities are being forced to come up with creative ways to make stretch donor funds and tackle food insecurity.
With the holiday season approaching, Stephen Wile, CEO of the Mustard Seed, said it's encouraging to see donations ramping up, but rising operating costs have pushed day-to-day operations to the limit.
“We have been significantly impacted by the rising price of food and food security issues. We provide in Calgary 1,000 meals a day out of our shelter and we've seen the cost of our meals increase by about 60 per cent since the spring,” Wile said, adding the price for one meal has risen in the past six months from $3.14 to more than $5.
To keep up with increasing demand, the Mustard Seed is expanding its Christmas Hamper program by sending out one week's worth of food to about 300 families across Calgary instead of just the supplies for one Christmas meal.
Donors have stepped up to tackle food insecurity, Wile said, as has the provincial government, which has provided resources to help cover the cost of meals at the 370-mat shelter that has been at or near capacity in the second half of 2022.
“What we're seeing in Calgary is also reflective of Edmonton and Red Deer and Medicine Hat and Kamloops. So it's not just a Calgary problem, it's a national issue,” Wile said.
Rick Armstrong, executive director of Our Collective Journey, said they've also had to come up with contingency plans to ensure they can feed the 700 people expected at their Coldest Night dinner event on Friday.
“(Rising costs) have put a lot of pressure on us . ... We did have a budget in mind, and then we started getting quotes from caterers and that significantly increased the budget,” Armstrong said.
“We said if we don't reach our (fundraising) goal, we're gonna cook. I think it worked out to about 35 turkeys.”
Fortunately, Armstrong 's group and partner organization Oxford House Foundation won't have to do the cooking themselves, thanks to the generosity of corporate sponsors, specifically AGAT.
“A lot of our sponsors came to the table and said, `We can't imagine what this is costing you this year,' so, thankfully, everyone opened their wallets and we were able to get to our fundraising goal.”
Donors have also come through for the Calgary Salvation Army's Christmas meals, covering the entirety of the cost for their Centre of Hope, women's shelter and west campus dinners.
“Where we are seeing huge impact and huge need around food is actually our day-to-day,” said Salvation Army executive director Cliff Wiebe. “We're seeing the lineups grow and grow” for the organization's drop-in food hamper program, he said.
The Salvation Army's 80-bed men's shelter and 18-bed women's shelter have been above capacity for about eight months, Wiebe said, and the loss of provincial grants the organization received during COVID has put a huge dent in the services they provide.
Their 160-bed men's transitional housing received government funding during the pandemic to provide meals, but since that stopped it's not possible to keep it going.
“They can still pay for meals; breakfast is $3, lunches are $4 and supper is $5, which is still very cheap. But we're just not able to provide that for free any longer,” Wiebe said.
“The needs continued to go up even though this Christmas is covered by a fantastic major donor, which we are so thankful for. We do have food needs, just simply every day of the year.”