Despite having full shelves throughout their facility, make no mistake the Taber Food Bank is facing dire circumstances.
“We’re 25 thousand in debt now. we do have some money that we’ve held back, but we still are running six thousand dollars a month and still need money,” said President Vicki Koersen.
The Food Bank received a $50,000 grant in 2012, but that has all but evaporated after servicing 400 to 500 people a month for the past two years. And there’s more bad news, they won’t be able to reapply for the grant until 2015. If the hard working dedicated employees and volunteers don’t come up with the money by January they could be in danger of shutting down, said Koersen.
“We won’t be able to keep our staffing needs, we won’t be able to meet our food costs, and then what happens?”
The Food Bank simply has more demand than it can handle. Over the past year they’ve seen almost a thirty percent increase in usage. Causing many like Taber Food Bank Manager Kathy Boersma to wonder why, “I think a lot of that has to do with cost of utilities, cost of rent going up. People just don’t have the money like they used to.”
Taber Mayor Henk Devlieger thinks the Food Bank’s higher usage might have something to do with the cost of food increasing,
“You look at meat and some other products. Maybe people that we’re kind of struggling before are struggling even more.”
Now the Taber Food Bank needs to raise funds. They need the public’s help to save the food bank.
“We’re at that point where we can’t be quiet anymore, we need to tell our community that the taber food bank is a need in this community.”
For more information on how you can help save the Taber Food Bank call 403-223-1833.
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