Edmonton Food Bank asking for donations at Heritage Fest as demand rises

Demand for services from Edmonton’s Food Bank is up — and the shelves are emptying out.

Requests for food hampers went up 26 per cent in the first half of the year, according to Marjorie Bencz, executive director of Edmonton’s Food Bank.

“We’re working with the same amount of food and serving more people and serving more community organizations,” said Bencz.

“It is very challenging.”

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According to Statistics Canada, the price of food across Canada has been rising faster than the rate of inflation – most recently at three times the rate of inflation.

The food bank says it has a deficit of 74,000 kg of food and as such is relying on summer events like the Edmonton Heritage Festival to help with the supply of food.

“It is a challenging time right now and I’m sure if we set a goal right now we wouldn’t meet it,” Bencz said.

“We are hoping people will bring non-perishable food items with them or they can drop off non-perishable food items at their local grocery stores,” said Bencz.

“Every contribution is appreciated.”

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Bencz said on top of assisting individuals, the food bank also helps 300 local organizations like schools, homeless shelters and food depots.

“We’re seeing more and more requests from those front line organizations that are also serving people in need,” she said.

Richard Oulette has been a volunteer at the food bank for about 14 years.

“I’ve had the good fortune of doing almost everything at the food bank, from being the mascot to driving the trucks to building hampers,” he said.

Oulette said he’s noticed the amount of hampers going out the door has tripled in the time he’s been there.

“When I first started in ‘09, we were doing about 11,000 hampers a month and we’re now at 35,000,” he said.

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Volunteers like Oulette will be stationed at the three entrances to the Heritage Festival to accept monetary and food donations.

“Heritage (Festival) used to be one of the biggest donation activities we had … I’m hoping to see lots of donations,” he said.

The Heritage Festival will take place Aug. 5 to 7 at the Edmonton Exhibition Lands and Borden Park.