(Prince Albert Food Bank/Facebook)

By Ian Gustafson

Food Bank Crisis

Food bank in need of donations

Aug 20, 2019 | 2:51 PM

The Prince Albert Food Bank is in dire need of donations after serving nearly 6,000 people in June and July.

After giving out 2,100 food hampers, Operations Manager Kerry Ramsdell told paNOW they haven’t had shelves this empty for some time.

“Oh yes definitely, our shelves are pretty bare and it’s hard to make hampers right now,” Ramsdell said. In “the summertime it does pick up, so we do go through a lot more, but we haven’t had shelves this empty for a while.”

Out of the 5,900 people served in June and July, a lot of the visitors are repeat consumers but also get new people coming in from out of town.

“It just seems like there is more and more,” she added. “Over the last couple of years, we’ve noticed a lot of new people so it’s hard to say it that will change in the winter.”

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She said they are mostly in need for non-perishable food items and produce but will take anything available.

“I would say pretty much everything, but the main things would be canned vegetables, soups, tomatoes, canned fruit, juice boxes, [and] even bottled water,” Ramsdell said.

For those who rely on the food bank for groceries, they are still able to help anyone in need, but the food hampers are not as full as they usually are.

Anyone who has food to give can deliver it to the food bank anytime between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

“If we had more donations coming in that would be great,” she said. “We do get reclamations every two weeks but that is gone usually within a week.”

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ian.gustafson@jpbg.ca