Northern Lights Casino made a donation to the food bank last month. (Facebook/P.A. Food Bank)

By Michael Joel-Hansen

covid-19

Closed casino supports P.A. Food Bank

Mar 20, 2020 | 2:00 PM

The Prince Albert Food Bank has seen an increase in traffic amidst the COVID-19 outbreak.

The organization’s executive director Kim Scruby said local organizers have reached out to help. Because of the school closures, there are suddenly more people in need of the food bank’s services.

“With the schools out right now, some of the feeding programs aren’t going on,” he said.

Some of the support came from the Northern Lights Casino which donated its unused food after its doors closed last week in response to COVID-19.

“All the perishable goods that they had on hand, which was a significant amount, maybe 1,500 pounds I am guessing, they brought it this way,” Scruby said.

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The donation included a variety of foods including milk, cheese, sandwich meat, and produce. Scruby said the donation of produce is something which is especially appreciated by them and their clients, given the higher prices.

“It’s huge for us,” he said.

Scruby said many of the supplies were handed out immediately. The produce was inspected before delivering it to clients.

Changes coming amidst pandemic

The food bank’s doors are still open to the public and there are not any plans to close. Staff members are taking precautions to protect themselves and clients.

Scruby explained they are in the process of reaching out to community groups, specifically seniors’ organizations so they can provide food directly to people who may not be able to leave their homes.

The food bank has already been teaming up with other community organizations in their day to day operations. On Friday, Scruby said they were getting help from Prince Albert Aid to the Homeless and Hungry as some of their people were unable to come in.

“We’ve been kind of short staffed due to people self-quarantining,” he said.

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MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn