This Quebec City food bank can hardly keep up with demand, as clientele nearly doubles
'I don't know what we're going to do,' says head of La Bouchée Généreuse
It's the day they distribute food baskets at La Bouchée Généreuse in Quebec City, and more than a hundred people have lined up to wait under tents outside.
Every week, the line gets longer.
"This is how I'm able to eat," explains Benoît Baribeau, patiently waiting to fill his empty grocery bags.
He's been coming here for 15 years, and has witnessed the growing demand.
"When I look at the little children who come, and see that their parents [standing outside] in -30C, -40 C so they can eat… Sometimes it just breaks my heart," said Baribeau.
Inside, a dozen volunteers and a few employees weave their way between piles of boxes of food, filling them with fruits and vegetables, dairy products, meat, bread and sweets in the organization's cramped warehouse.
In recent weeks, demand at the organization has exceeded 1,000 baskets per week. But on this last distribution in November, a new peak was reached — 1,105 baskets.
"That's as high as we can go. I don't know what we're going to do," said Pierre Gravel, general manager of La Bouchée Généreuse, which roughly translates to a generous mouthful.
He adds with a slight smile, "but every time it goes up, we find a way to have something for people."
Two years ago, the organization was giving away 600 baskets a week, said Gravel. With that nearly doubled, securing enough food to fill these baskets is becoming increasingly difficult.
The daily 'milk run'
On a snowy morning, just as dawn breaks, Gravel and three other men push a wooden pallet loaded with sacks of potatoes toward the door of their food bank's warehouse in the Limoilou district of Quebec City.
A farmer from Neuville, about 30 kilometres away, had donated the potatoes the day before.
Then they had to empty the truck used to collect the potatoes in preparation for what the food bank workers call the "milk run" — a slow journey the general manager and three others embark on seven days a week to collect food.
Two of the organization's trucks stop at some 15 grocery stores, wholesalers or farms to collect food for the Thursday food baskets.
"Like the milkman, we stop at every door," says Gravel.
"That's what it takes. We know that some businesses don't have warehouses. If we don't go there, they'll throw [the food] away."
One of the most important stops of the week is at Moisson Québec — a food bank supplier which provides the produce that makes up half of what Gravel's organization donates on Thursdays.
'Face of poverty has changed,' says head of Moisson Québec
In the past year alone, Moisson Québec, which supplies 130 food banks in the greater Quebec City area, has seen demand increase by 27 per cent.
"The face of poverty has changed," said Élaine Côté, Moisson Québec general manager.
She says 30 per cent of the region's food bank clientele are employed. Organizations in the area are reporting an increase in requests from students, new arrivals, workers and seniors.
At the same time, she says the effort to reduce food waste has meant some suppliers have less to donate.
"It's not that suppliers are less generous. On the contrary, more and more companies want to join us in our mission, but as everyone becomes more efficient, we get less and less food from everyone, which means we have to spend much more to get [enough] food," said Côté.
"But with the same quantity, we can't respond to twice as many people, can we?"
She notes that before the pandemic, 35,000 people needed food assistance. Today there are 80,000 in need.
'The need is exploding'
This summer, in just three months, Quebec's food banks spent the six million dollars granted by the CAQ government to Food Banks of Quebec, a network of more than 1,000 community organizations.
Since then, the province has committed to providing an additional $18 million that the food banks requested. Chantal Rouleau, Quebec's minister responsible for social solidarity and community action, announced earlier this month that Food Banks of Quebec will receive $8 million. This follows the $10 million that was granted by the provincial government as part of the economic update in November.
"We know very well that our model of only collecting food donations needs to be questioned," said Côté.
"We're working on that, but right now we're in a transition period where the need is exploding and we can't get enough food."
Gravel's daughter and the assistant director of La Bouchée Généreuse, Marie-Pierre Gravel, says their team of seven employees needs to do more, with less.
"It's really tough," said Marie-Pierre, breaking down.
"Honestly it's put a lot of pressure on us … We see people, we see the need but we are not able to help like we would like to."
She says planning for the future is difficult but they hope to be able to renovate their building so they can receive more people.
The day after distribution, Gravel says it starts all over again.
"There's nothing left in the freezers," said Gravel.
"It's a lot of work, but we succeed every week. Miracles don't just happen in Sainte-Anne [basilica], they happen here every Thursday
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Translated by CBC's Rachel Watts, with files from Glenn Wanamaker