Several food aid organizations have concerns about giving half-empty baskets to families in a matter of days instead of a full week.
• Also read – Food insecurity: Quebecers in dire straits now more than ever
“The baskets are empty. What we gave used to be enough for a person not to have to go to the grocery store for a week. Now it only takes a day or two,” regrets Agnès Mbome, who reports that the baskets at the Racine Croisée organization were almost full to the brim almost a year ago.
Organizations need to ration portions to feed as many people as possible, but donations are lacking.
“This week we’ve had less food than usual, we’re really scared of getting to a point where we have to reject people because we lack food,” Isabelle Sauvageau, a social worker at La Maisonnée, a non-profit organization, told the crowd Montrealers help in need.
She reports that sometimes the baskets can only hold bread and some vegetables.
As food prices continue to rise, many Quebec families are struggling to make ends meet and have to turn to food banks.
“Demand is increasing, the face of people in need is changing. We now find people from the middle class and students,” adds the head of the organization Racine Croisée.
breaking point
Employees and volunteers working in organizations fear most that they will reach the limits of their abilities.
“This is a particularly low period, the organizations do not want to turn people away, but we are approaching a worrying level,” says Éric Bédard, coordinator of the food logistics center at Bouffe-Action.
Because summer is a time when fruits and vegetables are in abundance, winter is a slow time for Tafel, which receives fewer donations than during the holiday season.
Targeted Applications
Without denigrating apps like FoodHero or Flashfood that allow grocers to sell their discontinued products at a low price, their popularity has some organizations worried about a drop in grocery store donations.
“We’re starting to see them becoming more popular, that’s not a problem yet, but it could have an impact on donations,” mentions Éric Bédard of Bouffe-Action, who is nonetheless happy that less food is going to the bin.
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