As Airdrie Food Bank continues to respond to the needs of residents in light of COVID-19, support from the community remains both appreciated and necessary according to executive director Lori McRitchie.
“We are, right now, still able to run our programs,” McRitchie said. “We’ll keep going as long as we can.”
In March, as the coronavirus pandemic escalated rapidly, McRitchie said the food bank moved quickly to anticipate an increased need for its services and to implement new procedures to keep staff, volunteers and clients safe.
“For the month of March, we saw double the hamper numbers that we had seen last March,” she said. “That was pretty significant for us.”
Things have been very “up and down” throughout the pandemic, she said, and Airdrie Food Bank doesn’t know what to expect week to week. The number of walk-in clients using its Bread and Extras program has been lower than usual, which she attributes to people abiding by stay-at-home orders.
Lately, hamper numbers have also varied significantly, and McRitchie said the food bank hasn’t seen the increase it was expecting, but they brace for it every week.
“We haven’t really got a sense of the new normal, and maybe there is no new normal,” she said.
- INTERACTIVE MAP: See the latest COVID-19 statistics across Canada by province/territory on our interactive map.
One effect of COVID-19 has been the cancellation of all the food bank’s fundraisers, including the Shamrock Shimmy, a golf tournament and a casino night. This has left the organization’s funding up in the air, McRitchie said.
“How we were going to make it through was a concern,” she said. “I’m going to say that it is still a concern, but our community has stepped up and people have donated online and have just really supported us in our efforts to feed the community.”
As of April 17, McRitchie said the food bank has not received any support from either the provincial or federal government, which she called surprising.
“We’ve applied for some funding [but] didn’t receive it,” she said. “We’re waiting to hear on provincial funding that was supposed to be given to food banks.”
In terms of food, McRitchie said the food bank had to purchase additional staple items such as flour and sugar after depleting its store, but also saw an abundance of produce donated as restaurants and businesses reduced service or closed. The organization remains in need of donations to ensure they can distribute food to those without.
“We need specific food items,” McRitchie said. “There are some things we have lots of, and some things we don’t have any.”
Funding is also important to ensure Airdrie Food Bank can pay its program expenses and building costs, she added. When it comes to supporting the food bank, McRitchie said she encourages the community to donate whatever is meaningful to them.
“[If] it means more to you to go shopping and purchase that food, if that’s meaningful to you, awesome.”
She added that anyone donating food should check out the list of most needed items on airdriefoodbank.com or on its social media pages, where urgent needs will be posted.
Ben Sherick, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @BenSherick
