Some P.E.I. food banks can't offer Thanksgiving turkeys due to high cost of living

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, but for many of P.E.I.'s less fortunate residents, celebrations will be a little less meaty this year.

Island food banks have been struggling to get the donations they used to, due to the high cost of living hurting regular supporters' wallets. That means many holiday staples won't be offered for people in need.

"Unfortunately, it's not in our budget to hand out turkeys, chickens or ham for Thanksgiving. But we've got extra veggies and stuff like that for people, to ease the burden that way for them," said Norma Dingwell, who manages the Southern Kings and Queens Food Bank.

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"Donations come from our community members and that's a lot to ask, for people to donate, you know, for Thanksgiving and for Christmas.... Some of our donors have approached us and just said… 'We can't do it to the scale that we did before.'" 

Meanwhile, other food bank operators say demand for the items they do have on offer is as high as it's ever been.

John Burton with the Salvation Army's Community Church in Charlottetown said they've seen 27 per cent more families using their food bank and breakfast program over the last year.

"People are talking about the cost of housing — like rent, mortgages. They're talking about the cost of food, they're talking about the cost of home heating," he said.

"We've seen people coming... [who] say that they've never been here before. And to be honest, they're a little timid coming, but you know, people — I find — are willing to do what it takes to help their family."

The church will be offering take-away meals on Monday. Burton said they're prepared to serve 125 people, but they can do up to 70 more meals if need be.

More new faces

The Upper Room in Charlottetown has served more than 3,100 people at its food bank and 3,500 people at its soup kitchen since September.

Executive director Mike MacDonald said that's more than 25 per cent more clients than the same time last year.

"Last month, we saw 191 new families," he said. "A couple years ago... we may have seen 30 to 35 new households a month."

MacDonald said the Upper Room is focusing its donation drive efforts around Christmas because donors are struggling as well. That means the food bank won't be able to offer any turkeys this Thanksgiving.

"I don't think it would be very fair for us to put that request out twice and, you know, I know it's hard for donors as well," he said.

"We purchase a lot of food, we have trucks on the road we need to put gas into, we do have staff we need to pay and... all those costs that really every business has. We've been very fortunate with the support of our community," MacDonald said. 

Preparations for the Upper Room Christmas hamper and turkey drive began in August. People were able to start signing up to receive hampers this week, to let the Upper Room gauge what sort of need there will be.

Demand likely going up

Earlier this week, the Vernon River/Belfast Community Pantry was offering turkeys that co-ordinator Bonnie Shave purchased with some extra donations she got over the summer.

She put them on the fridge Wednesday afternoon. By next morning, they were all gone.

"We were nervous that someone had sort of, you know, taken more than their share. But no, from looking at our cam, it was individuals. Twenty individuals took turkeys," Shave said.

Shave said it was heartwarming to see many people get their share, but how fast the turkeys went shows there's a big need in the community.

"There were actually more people came afterwards, unfortunately swung open the fridge door to see that there were no turkeys left. Sad, but that's, you know — we can only do what we can do, right?" she said.

"As the winter months approach and the cost of heating and everything [rises], our demand is probably going to go up. So hopefully our community will continue to support [us]."