B.C. children’s meal charity says inflation causing spike in demand

A B.C. charity that provides meals to children says the rising costs of goods and services in Canada has caused a sharp increase in demand for their services and a near-dire need for donations.

Backpack Buddies targets what’s known as the ‘weekend hunger gap’, to ensure children who normally rely on school meal programs during the weekdays still get proper means on Saturday and Sunday.

The charity’s executive director Emily-Anne King says demand rose at the start of the pandemic, but over the past few weeks, the need appears to be unprecedented.

“What we’ve witnessed and experienced over the last sort of four to six weeks has been like nothing we’ve ever seen as an organization before. The phone doesn’t stop ringing with new communities, new schools and even individuals calling who are looking for help to feeding or feeding their kids,” she said.

King says, in the last week alone, the charity has added 500 children to its program across six new communities including Salt Spring Island, the Lower Similkameen, Oliver, and Penticton. The charity already services communities from the Lower Mainland all the way up to Stewart, on Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast.

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The charity is appealing for donations and volunteers, and asking people to go to their website to help children in need.

“It costs just $20 to feed a child on our program for the whole weekend. So that’s nine meals plus fresh, fresh fruits, and veggies and snacks,” she says adding they typically have 40 to 50 volunteers come through their warehouse as week.

“I had a little girl once told me that before backpack, buddy sometimes all she had all weekend was water. You know that here in our province in B.C. and it’s in every community. It’s a really hidden crisis. And I really implore people to look around locally to see what people are doing to address this need and to reach out and to help.”

Canadian inflation hit 5.7 per cent in February, the highest level in three decades.

The Bank of Canada hikes the benchmark interest rate to one person this week, the second time in as many months, in an attempt to cool inflation, however experts warn it could be more than a year before Canadians start to see the impacts on their bank accounts.