Siloam Mission in Winnipeg says the number of people who come in for food support has almost doubled since last fall and it’s putting a strain on the shelter.
There has been a decrease in food donations this year and the shelter’s CEO Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud says they have added $140,000 to the budget this year just for food.
“We used to say that we kind of had anywhere from 5 to 7 days of food on hand, and now we’re down to 2 to 3. It’s the first time that we’ve had to budget a significant increase in food because the donations are down at the same time that the amount of food that we need to get out the door to folks has significantly increased.”
The shelter’s overall deficit now stands at $750,000 and they are averaging around 15,000 meals a day.
Next Friday, The Stories of Hope radiothon will be held on Corus radio stations including 680 CJOB, Power 97, and Pegg 99.1. The shelter is hoping the generosity of Manitobans will come through.
“We definitely don’t want to consider reducing the amount of services that we offer to folks because we know that people are relying on them.” said Blaikie Whitecloud.
“We’re really hopeful that this deficit can not be a problem that actually exists throughout the whole course of the year. We really hope that we can break the bread enough that it can feed all the mouths that need it.”