Surrey Food Bank going broke as demand surges

With a surge in demand and now that children are back in school, one Metro Vancouver food bank admits it is struggling to feed those in need.

The Surrey Food Bank says it’s currently spending about $100,000 a month to get the food and supplies needed, and cover wages. The bank’s Communications and Community Partnerships Partner, Vijay Naidu, admits things look grim, and it won’t be long until the food bank is in debt as donations have dried up.

“I think there are a lot of businesses and individuals who used to donate a lot, but I think that’s gone down because I think they might not be able to afford it,” explained Naidu, who says the bank needs canned goods.

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“We don’t receive much government funding. We do here and there, but it’s not significant, it’s predominantly the community that donates.”

Naidu says families tell them they are stretched thin and they’re seeing more people who are having a hard time since interest rates began rising.

“We had a family coming in. They were well off and they also owned a house, but their mortgage went up and they didn’t have any money to buy food,” Naidu explained.

“They came in their fancy car, but they said, ‘We don’t have any money to buy food because all the money is gone.'”

In July, the Surrey Food Bank says it delivered about 3,900 food hampers. In August, that number went up 5,200. For children under 19, they served 2,950 in July, and which rose to 3,200 in August.

“I spoke to our receptionist, she’s the one who does new registrations and client updates. She says she doesn’t even get a chance to have a sip of water because people are coming in continuously into our office to register and we’re seeing a sudden increase of international students. That’s gone up a lot — especially students from India, Sri Lanka, and Brazil.”

Naidu says they’re seeing an increase in local families as well as refugees and immigrants and he says their staff are feeling the pinch of the cost-of-living crisis as well.

“Us working as full-time staff, it’s hitting us hard. Me and my colleague were talking and said, ‘Soon, we might be queuing up at the food bank as well,'” Naidu said, who points out they’d like to expand their services.

“We’re thinking about growing because demand has gone up, so, we’re trying to increase the staff capacity as well … but if you increase the staff, that means our budget will go up as well.”

He says a lot of items have gone up in price at the grocery store, so demand is up for things like baby formula, baby cereal, diapers as well as fruit cups and juice boxes. For seniors, he says they need liquid meal replacements and items that are low in sodium and sugar.

“We definitely have a need for international food. The biggest challenge we have is halal food. It’s way too expensive for us to buy.”

“We do buy it, but we can only buy 1,500 units and that goes in a couple of weeks,” he said, adding that when they have to turn people away, it’s gut-wrenching.

“The other day, a Mom and daughter came to the food bank and they were from Syria. The daughter was asking her mom, ‘Mom, I want chicken. Can you ask them if they have chicken?’ The Mom communicated to us, saying, ‘Do you have [halal] chicken?’ Then we had to politely say, ‘No, we don’t have that today.’ Then she had to say that back to her kid… and she was really heartbroken. It was really sad to see.”

His comments are echoed by other local food banks including those in the Tri-Cities and on the North Shore.

“The cost of groceries has skyrocketed, and everyone is having trouble keeping up, including us,” explained North Shore Quest Outreach Society Executive Director Theodora Lamb. “Where we really feel this is around the holidays. December may feel far off but we’re already thinking about, ‘Where are we going to source our poultry, our turkeys, for those holiday meals? And I can tell you right now, consumers are going to feel that pinch when it comes to their holiday planning… the cost of our animal proteins has gone up.”

Food banks are hopeful donations, both for food and funding, go up in time for the holidays.

–With files from Martin MacMahon