Clients up, donations down as BC food banks head into holiday season

As the holiday season nears, demand is growing at B.C. food banks and more families are struggling to put food on the holiday dinner table.

At the Surrey Food Bank Society, staff tell CityNews their number of clients is rising and demand is higher than ever before.

According to Mahmood Zafar, executive director for the food bank, the non-profit has seen an almost a 40 per cent jump in visitors compared to the same time last year.

“Last two weeks the number of clients has gone up, more and more people are coming here,” Zafar said.

Many of the new clients are students, first time food bank users, and immigrants, like Mohammed Ibrahim, who arrived in Canada this year with his family from Afghanistan.

“We are trying to find jobs, but we didn’t find any one yet. So that’s why we are using the food bank,” Ibrahim said.

A steady flow of clients passed through the doors Friday. Staff say this has become the norm, and from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. the food bank is jam-packed. What used to be a daily average of less than 200 people, has now gone up to as high as almost 300 a day.

Kulwinder Saini, a volunteer with the food bank, says the increased demand is hard to see.

“It breaks my heart that we are a world-class city and a province, (but) people have to rely on foodbanks to cover their groceries,” Saini said.

Those who work at the food bank say while demand is up, donations are down.

The cost of living and inflation has left the average British Columbian with less disposable income to give out and spread holiday generosity.

But the food bank is doing the best it can — at a very expensive time of year — to make sure everyone has something to put on the dinner table.

“We used to give turkeys during this time of the year, but we are giving out chicken. We get more quantity and we can give to more clients,” Zafar said.

Doug, a food bank user, says when this time of year is coupled with an unforgiving economy, the results are doubly difficult.

“When everything doubles all at once, it’s a little harder than usual,” Doug, a food bank user, said.

Staff say with grocery prices projected to be just as expensive or worse in the new year, they’re expecting even more people at the foodbank.

While food contributions are always welcome, staff say monetary donations are best to hand-pick what their clients need most.