Demand up at food banks on P.E.I. as inflation, gas prices soar

Food banks on P.E.I. say they are seeing higher demand due to inflation.

The Island's annual inflation rate was 7.4 per cent in February — higher than it's been in 30 years and the highest in the country. That means more people are in need of food and other supplies.

"It's been considerably busier," said Mike MacDonald, executive director at the Upper Room Food Bank in Charlottetown. 

He said demand is up about 10 per cent over this time last year, with a lot of the increase seen in the last few weeks. In February, the food bank helped feed 658 families and just over 1,800 people.

MacDonald said the rising cost of everything — groceries, fuel, heating oil, rents and more — means some Islanders are struggling to make ends meet.

"It's certainly a concern to us. It will have an impact on donations. And certainly I know going to the grocery store how much our family groceries are costing ... there are only so many dollars to kind of go around."

Not just low-income Islanders

The Upper Room is well stocked for the time being, mostly due to government funding to food banks during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That's also helping South Shore Food Share in Crapaud, where staff said more Islanders are feeling the pinch of inflation.

"It isn't just low income. Anyone who is partially employed can't afford to live. The cost of living has skyrocketed so you're seeing a whole different demographic coming into need," said food bank co-founder Marianna Burda. 

She said the reasons for increased demand go beyond inflation. COVID-19 devastated many businesses, and the Island's troubled potato sector, cut off from exporting to the U.S. this winter, has laid off many workers, while hiring for the spring planting season is uncertain.

"Families who were already strained are just crushed now, and then they've had their employment interrupted whether they were seasonal or the potato industry or businesses that went out of business," said Burda.

"The cost of fuel, the cost of rent ... It's bad times."

Some people in the rural area of Crapaud have started carpooling to the food bank due to the high cost of gas, she said.