As prices soar, so does demand at North End food bank
Bear Clan says hundreds a day are visiting their pantry
Lineups are getting longer at its North End food bank as unemployment and the rising cost of living has many local households struggling to make ends meet, the Bear Clan says.
Marilyn Morrisseau, a pensioner in the neighbourhood, says food prices have skyrocketed, even at bargain stores.
"A bag of carrots is $4.99. That's kind of expensive," Morrisseau said. "I don't worry about myself, but what about the families with seven or eight kids?"
Bear Clan treasurer Brian Chrupalo says the group's food bank has seen a daily average of more than 300 clients drop in during the pandemic. In recent weeks, that number has nearly doubled.
"We've seen a spike to just over 600 people in one day," said Chrupalo, who said unemployment is a big issue.
"Stores, restaurants, businesses have closed because of COVID," he said. "When you're working, it's a different situation. When you're not, people still need to eat."
The Bear Clan says many of the people waiting outside its pantry on Selkirk Avenue have families to feed.
Leona Hastings shops around for the best deals, but says it's getting harder to buy groceries for her household of three.
"They're so expensive — like meat, I can't afford it," she said. "That's why I come here."
The Bear Clan relies on supermarkets to donate food getting close to its expiration date. The food bank, across the street from the Bear Clan's main headquarters, has a refrigerated van to make pickups.
"This week, we've got a lot of yogurt and yogurt drinks," said Chrupalo, a Winnipeg police sergeant who grew up in the neighbourhood and volunteers on the group's board of directors.
"People are coming to get bread. When we get chicken and stuff like that, it goes out really quickly."
At the height of the pandemic, Chrupalo says, the Bear Clan was delivering food hampers to roughly 1,500 Winnipeggers a week. The group had about $900,000 to spend on that year-long initiative until the funding ran out. He thinks the government could do more to help.
"Some core funding for this program would go a long way toward helping the community," he said. "Everything costs money: gas, vehicles, insurance, rent on the building, salaries.
"It's an expensive endeavour for us to give away free food, but we're still managing to do it."
Harvest Manitoba is also seeing unprecedented costs and demand. The organization distributes food to food banks, soup kitchens and other agencies provincewide.
Harvest Manitoba president and CEO Vince Barletta says the group broke its record last month, helping about 35,000 Manitobans with food hampers. It's also seeing more first-time users.
"We're talking with people who are at their wits' end and need our help," said Barletta. "Increasingly it's people who are working full- and part-time with low wages, who are simply finding that they aren't able to make ends meet with prices rising as they are."
Harvest is urging people to help if they can, with donations of food, money or time volunteering.
To get a hamper, people across the province can call Harvest Manitoba at 204-982-3671.
The Bear Clan's food bank at 563 Selkirk Ave. is open to everyone, Monday to Friday from 12-5 p.m.
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