Interfaith Food Bank Society of Lethbridge. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Food bank use up in Lethbridge for seniors & single adults

Nov 12, 2019 | 12:20 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The Interfaith Food Bank, in partnership with Food Banks Canada, has released the findings of their 2019 Hunger Count.

It looks at how many Canadians are accessing food banks, the root causes of why people are needing to access them, and what they feel should be done about it.

In the image below, the column on the right, labeled “Interfaith March 2019” shows the numbers for the Lethbridge Interfaith Food Bank (IFB), but does not include information from the Lethbridge Food Bank (LFB), the ULSU Food Bank, or the LCSA Food Bank.

Findings of the 2019 Hunger Count. (Supplied by Food Banks Canada)

IFB Executive Director Danielle McIntyre says the stats for their food bank and the LFB should be fairly close, although the IFB serves more children while the LFB caters to more single adults.

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“One of the largest population groups that we’re seeing a rise in is our seniors, they are the fastest-growing group of food bank users this year, which is not very comforting to see.”

Also of concern are the growing rates of adults living alone using the food bank.

While the numbers for youth are down slightly, McIntyre believes they still represent far too large of a chunk of their clientele.

She explains that there are plenty of reasons why someone might need to access a food bank, but most come down to poverty and other economic factors.

“In Lethbridge, we don’t have the highest wages in the country. We also, in Alberta, have seen a few years of very high unemployment rates, and even though we’ve seen it come down just slightly in the last little bit, our numbers here in Alberta are higher than the national average. A lot of that has to do with the big boom-and-bust we’ve had recently with the oil patch.”

As well, the fact that many government benefit programs are only temporary means that many families facing hard times financially have to make steep cutbacks in their budgets.

The Interfaith Food Bank Society said in a press release that it believes Canada’s current social safety net has huge holes in it and is not equipped to handle the changing labour market nor the rapidly-rising cost of living.

“If people can continue to talk about the problem with their friends and families, if they connect with their local food banks to help out with some of our temporary measures to help people through the tough times. I think the biggest thing is advocating for change.”

Specifically, she wants to see single, low-income adults become a priority in future considerations of poverty reduction measures, as well as the creation of a program to support those whose temporary EI benefits are about to run out, and to develop a national strategy on early learning and childcare.