57 replies to this topic

[Barrrister]

Free food, who would not grab that?

[Victoria Watcher]

As cost of living soars, millions of Canadians are turning to food banks

New report from Food Banks Canada shows highest numbers since it began collecting data in 1989




https://www.cbc.ca/n...eport-1.7006464

The annual HungerCount report is based on surveys sent to food security organizations, tracking their usage in the month of March. This year's report found that nearly two million people — including more employed people than ever — used food banks March 2023 alone.




One also suspects the number of food banks that do not require registration and/or means testing is also at an all-time high.

[Tony]

With population growth would you not expect most other population based stats to increase even if there were no changes in the percentages of people in any particular category?

[Mike K.]

The population growth is 0.5 to 1% per year. Food bank usage is rising at like 50%, or more.

Look at the first part of the article:

130 people for dinner on Fridays — compared to the two dozen they saw a few years ago.

24 -> 130

~450%.

And subsequent paragraphs:

The annual HungerCount report is based on surveys sent to food security organizations, tracking their usage in the month of March. This year's report found that nearly two million people — including more employed people than ever — used food banks March 2023 alone.

That's a 32 per cent increase from the same month last year and more than 78 per cent higher than in March 2019.

[Tony]

The point I was making was only that as the population increase if the same percent use food banks an increasing number would use them.

 

Hunger Reports

2020  53% saw a drop in need a result from government Covid financial support.

2021 20.3% increase form 2020

2022 15% increase from 2021

2023 32% increase from 2022

[Victoria Watcher]

Treska Watson, director of operations for the Mustard Seed, which was founded in 1975, said the need is the highest she’s seen in 40 years.

“We’re seeing new faces across every demographic group,” she said. “Daily, we are seeing the impact of inflation on individuals and families and how many are having to choose between a roof over their head and putting food on the table.

“We are seeing more seniors and more double-income families seeking help.”

https://www.timescol...ts-soar-8013132


Double income families should not be permitted to use the food bank.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 December 2023 - 06:06 AM.

[aastra]

Of course I have no problem with giving food or anything else to people who genuinely need it. But after consuming these kinds of news stories for almost my entire life I have to ask: when has the need ever not been the highest we've seen in years?
 

 

Times-Colonist
March 11, 1995

Mustard Seed set for new quarters

Victoria's biggest food bank is about to become a major institution...

The food bank, affiliated with the Baptist Church, now serves 1,340 children in Victoria a month, doles out $1.2 million worth of food a year in 13,279 hampers and is serving families once considered middle class...

The food bank relies on 50 volunteers a day throughout the year and more than 130 during the Christmas season to collect food, pack hampers, and make deliveries.

...the need has grown to such a degree in Victoria that it's necessary to have a more sophisticated approach involving semi-trailers delivering food, use of freezers, computerized systems of record-keeping and warehouse storage of food.

"We aren't making it an institution -- society is,"

More than 4,800 people and companies support the food bank with regular donations.

The Mustard Seed is the second-largest food bank in BC and is a member of the Canadian Association of Food Banks, representing 73 such facilities across Canada. It has a policy of serving families rather than single people, plus the physically and mentally challenged and old-age pensioners. People are served on a first-come first-served basis and are interviewed to determine need.

...the needy people... include unemployed engineers and a medical doctor who lost everything due to illness.

"We are seeing people who are educated but who may be overqualified or too old or who can't find a job. And families can't survive on money from social services alone."

Edited by aastra, 21 December 2023 - 12:36 PM.

[aastra]

I don't know. Were these articles intended to make us more caring or more jaded? Little old Victoria had some serious "big city" problems all the way back in 1983:

 

 

Times-Colonist
November 14, 1983

Soup's on -- and the kitchen is friendly

Rev. Gipp Forster, pastor of the Mustard Seed street church, a store-front ministry, says the food bank is run from public donations. It concentrates on families and directs single men to other agencies.

The food bank distributes hampers with enough food for two weeks. A family is eligible for six hampers, by which time the family is hopefully getting back on its feet.

Rev. Gipp Forster doesn't know how many people have benefited from the Mustard Seed food bank but says there have been 20,000 recipients, many of them repeats, since last December.

"We have put out as many as 100 hampers a day,"

"With Christmas coming it's going to be insane. I don't see things improving."

(aastra asks: why should Christmas or Thanksgiving any other holiday period have the effect of worsening the need for food? I once ate a pretty basic tuna sandwich for Christmas dinner. Things don't need to be extravagant to be satisfying.)

[aastra]

How is it possible that the thousands of givers wouldn't have any interpersonal relationships with the thousands of needy? In other words, why are these middleman organizations and initiatives so necessary, and why have they become increasingly necessary over time? I'm not being a jerk, I'm asking the question. Or are we saying thousands of givers DO have interpersonal relationships with thousands of needy... in addition to what the middleman organizations are addressing?

 

It seems like the longstanding narratives are gradually trending to that inevitable place where just about everyone will be able to declare themselves needy according to some official standard or metric. Just about everyone will be dependent on food banks or some other aspect of the system, one way or another.

[aastra]

Methinks this one puts the exclamation point on what I'm getting at:

 

 

Times-Colonist
January 5, 1983

Gorde Hunter: One Man's Opinion

...just before New Year's, I learned the donations had dropped to a trickle. I trust it was but a momentary lapse on the part of Victorians. Even Mitchell, manager of Woodward's, hopes so too.

"Just a note to express our gratitude to all those people who are using Woodward's as a drop point for the Mustard Seed's needy family food drop project."

"Since we started collecting just over three weeks ago, we have delivered eighty cartons of groceries -- an average of four per day. While this is very good, we would hope it will continue and perhaps increase in the very lean months ahead. Unemployment is projected as at least an 18-month problem, so these people will continue to need our help. Let's all keep the Christmas spirit going and ensure the success of this worthy project for as long as the economic recovery takes."

...I would hope all major food outlets in this area would take a leaf out of Woodward's book -- put up a large, clearly-marked bin in which customers can drop an item or two of food every week.

I had initially hoped one-fifth of the Greater Victoria population of 225,000 would participate in the project. That would mean 11,250 Victorians giving each and every week. And such participation would automatically ensure continued success of the project. But I'm sad to report such has not been the case. Rather, it would appear that maybe three or four thousand citizens have been keeping it going.

To those three or four thousand, well done and please continue. To the majority of Victorians, not good enough -- remember, some day it could be you in need of food bank help.

[Nparker]

...Just about everyone will be dependent on food banks or some other aspect of the system...

Perhaps that is the goal. "Nanny" will then step-in and feed us government issued "Nutri-gruel"^®. That'll show those nasty, profit-driven grocers who the boss is.

Edited by Nparker, 21 December 2023 - 02:35 PM.

[aastra]

 

Let's all keep the Christmas spirit going and ensure the success of this worthy project for as long as the economic recovery takes.

 

End hunger, end homelessness, end poverty... we're always an inch away from doing it.

 

I don't know, maybe that's the point. Be more charitable, regardless of whether or not it's actually accomplishing anything. Because (obviously, as the passage of time has demonstrated) the larger issues will never go away no matter what we try to do about them. It's more about each one of us as individuals and what we're choosing to do or not do for those around us.

[aastra]

 

Perhaps that is the goal. "Nanny" will then step-in and feed us government issued "Nutri-gruel"^®. That'll show those nasty, profit-driven grocers who the boss is.

 

Methinks that would seem to be a major element and maybe even the end game re: the darker angle. But like I say, a lot of these endlessly worsening crises and catastrophes can also be regarded as persistent exhortations to each one of us to do more for our fellow man, for the real people in our real lives. If we toss a few cans in a donation bin are we really making an effort to do any good for anyone? For all we know those donations might get locked in a warehouse or tossed in the garbage. By that I don't mean to accuse anyone of anything; I'm just saying the machinations of "industrialized charity" can de-personalize the act of giving and turn it into something perfunctory. Case in point: GoFundMe appeals.

[LJ]

How is it possible that the thousands of givers wouldn't have any interpersonal relationships with the thousands of needy? In other words, why are these middleman organizations and initiatives so necessary, and why have they become increasingly necessary over time? I'm not being a jerk, I'm asking the question. Or are we saying thousands of givers DO have interpersonal relationships with thousands of needy... in addition to what the middleman organizations are addressing?

 

It seems like the longstanding narratives are gradually trending to that inevitable place where just about everyone will be able to declare themselves needy according to some official standard or metric. Just about everyone will be dependent on food banks or some other aspect of the system, one way or another.

If all these food banks shuttered their doors tomorrow, would there be starving dead people lying in the streets? I don't think so. There were no food banks when I was younger, I didn't see any dead bodies lying around then. 

Same with homeless people, stop providing them with everything, and they may learn how to provide for themselves.

 

Enough already.

[Victoria Watcher]

It's just another poverty business, folks.   Paying $1.8 million in salaries.   While only buying $300,000 in food.

 

 

https://mustardseed....nual-Report.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Showers and laundry coming.

 

 

 

https://mustardseed....2-23-Signed.pdf

 

 

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 December 2023 - 07:51 PM.

[Nparker]

Don't worry. Nanny will take care of you.

[Victoria Watcher]

Increasing demand for food assistance this year, coupled with a regular spike in users during the holiday season, has strained Canadian food banks this month, the directors of multiple Canadian food bank associations say.

"Christmas is always a busy time for our food banks but particularly when you add Christmas ... plus the regular need throughout the month of December has been increased, it just puts even more pressure on the food banks," said Shawna Bissell, executive director of Food Banks Alberta, a network of over 100 local organizations in the province.


https://www.cbc.ca/n...ssure-1.7071747



It really is time to do away with food banks. It’s a terribly inefficient way to feed people..

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 December 2023 - 10:38 PM.

[todd]

I use the Rock Bay Bottle Depot about three times a year. I’m not trying to say I’m an elitist but I’ve never used a food bank

Edited by todd, 31 December 2023 - 06:46 PM.