Montague Food Bank experiencing shortages as demand climbs and donations dip

The food bank in Montague is raising alarm bells about its long-term sustainability, as donations fall and demand continues to rise. 

Last week, on its regular Thursday pickup day, the food bank in eastern P.E.I. ran out of food. 

"We pretty much ran out of everything. Potatoes, milk, cheese, veggies, hamburger — pretty much everything that we usually put as staples in our bags, we ran out of," said Norma Dingwell, who manages the food bank.

"This is not the norm," she added, noting that demand has continued to climb relentlessly. "Every week… two and three new families [are] signing up. No different than today, I think we had five new families signing up."  

The Upper Room Food Bank in Charlottetown has seen demand climb almost 30 per cent in the last year, and more new faces come through the door every day, says manager Mike MacDonald. 

Food banks on P.E.I. struggle as demand rises — and some past donors become clients

9 days ago

Duration 1:52

Organizations that run food banks on the Island say they’re finding it hard to keep up with an increase in demand. In Montague, the food bank recently ran out of almost all of its food on pickup day. As CBC's Tony Davis reports, some fear they will have to shut down altogether if something doesn't change.

"It's a battle just to try to keep up with demand," he said. "We can't continue to see 30 per cent increases. Someday soon, we hope that that levels out and starts to decrease." 

The rising cost of rent, gas, food, insurance, medicine and other essentials has squeezed Islanders, Dingwell said. 

"People are finding it harder and harder to feed themselves. Then they come to us, and we want to help," she said. 

"Some people that were giving to us before are now clients. You can see how sad and how upset they are that they have to come, that they no longer can contribute."  

'Going to keep going'

MacDonald said he too is seeing smaller donations or no donations at all from regular donors, or donors becoming food bank clients. 

Dingwell said a basic guaranteed income for Islanders in need would help alleviate the stress of clients and food bank operators alike. 

She also believes staples like potatoes and milk shouldn't cost as much as they do. And she would like the provincial government to ensure food banks have enough food to hand out to Islanders. 

"We're just going to keep going as long as we can," Dingwell said. 

MacDonald said despite demand, Islanders should know they can always come to the food bank in Charlottetown and receive food.