Demand for food bank soars in Fort McMurray
FORT MCMURRAY Fort McMurray’s food bank faces a huge increase in demand.
Arianna Johnson, executive director of the Wood Buffalo Food Bank, said on the first day the food bank reopened, June 11, it distributed 162 food hampers. The next day it was 192. Before the fire, Johnson said, the food bank averaged 20-30 hampers a day.
“This was a little bit unmanageable for us, so we placed a cap at that point of 150 hampers a day,” Johnson said.
About 120-150 families now visit each day to pick up hampers, Johnson said Friday. Each hamper filled with a week’s worth of food, including items such as milk, eggs, bread, apples, oranges, potatoes and some meat.
Johnson said the cap of 150 hampers a day was put in place because that is the amount of perishable food they’re able to process and distribute each day.
“We can only get so much perishable (goods) into the building each day that’s manageable,” Johnson said, adding that they have shortened the application process to respond to requests more quickly.
Unlike the grocery stores, she said, the food bank wasn’t deemed a top essential service, so staff couldn’t get back in until May 27 to start cleaning and preparing for the re-entry.
Even though the demand is five times more than before the fire, Johnson says they’re managing.
She said the Alberta Food Banks Association has been ensuring the food bank has a well-stocked inventory. They currently have enough volunteers, something she hopes will continue.
Johnson said the best way to help the food bank is monetary donations that help staff provide exactly what clients need.
She also asked people not to bring in non-perishables that were in their homes before the wildfire.
“We are asking that people to make sure they don’t clean out their local cupboards and donate that food because we aren’t able to accept it,” Johnson said, adding that canned goods that have been washed can be accepted.