(Image Credit: CFJC Today / Jill Sperling)

By Dylana Kneeshaw

FOOD BANK SHORTAGE

Kamloops Food Bank donations dropping down as demand picks up

Mar 18, 2020 | 4:24 PM

KAMLOOPS — The economic, and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have trickled down to the Kamloops Food Bank — with donations down, and demand going up.

Kamloops Food Bank Executive Director Bernadette Siracky says both donations and supplies recently dropped down to a concerning level.

“People that are going out into the stores and purchasing all of a product line — so all of the toilet paper or all of the soup or frozen peas, etc. — we’re feeling that dramatically at the food bank.”

Siracky says the food bank has concerns around its daily and weekly donation amounts. For instance on Tuesday, Siracky says the organization ran out of the daily perishable food for those in need, something she says hasn’t happened in years.

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“For our clients who are watching this, please come to the food bank as normal,” she stresses, “but we are going to be giving out hampers, and making them up instead. And they can come once every two weeks for that product.”

Shortages alongside social distancing practice have brought changes to client distribution. Siracky says only ten people are allowed in to pick up their food at a time, and many volunteers have been asked to stay home in order to stay under the 50 person gathering limitation.

“We’re trying to do the best we can, and we’re asking our clients to understand the need to have that social distance,” she says. “I mean, we’re trying to follow all of the public health recommendations because we do not want to close our doors.”

Those limits on public gatherings have led to some restaurants closing temporarily, and several local eateries in that category have stepped up to help the food bank. To name a few, Siracky says they’ve had the Noble Pig, and the TRU Culinary Arts Department reach out to them so far.

“Some of the restaurants, they’re calling us and saying, ‘Hey,m we have perishable product, can we bring it to you, can you come and pick it up?”

The status of one of the non-profit’s largest donation drivers is also up in the air.

The Daybreak Rotary Spring Food Drive is hoping to be able to continue with the yellow bag collection in April, but Rotary’s Bryce Herman says adjustments may have to be made.

Herman notes that the food drive is mainly contact-free already, as the food is picked up outside of people’s homes. But the main difference would be cancelling the volunteer breakfast gathering to start the day, and the sorting volunteer numbers would have to be adjusted.

“We’re watching the changes that are happening day by day, and certainly a week ago or two weeks ago it would have been a different conversation than we’re having today. I think those are all crystal ball to a certain degree, but we certainly hope that it would play in the favour of the food bank, versus the alternative.”

The food bank adds at this time, it cannot accept more volunteer man-power, but it would welcome any donations to help those in the city who would otherwise go without.