ARCOLA, Sask. – In this land of plenty, where food literally sprouts from the ground all around them, it’s hard to believe that families are hungry.
“People here can’t believe that there would be people here who need food,” said Mavis James, an Arcola woman who helps run the rural food bank based in Carlyle. “It’s taken them a long time to realize there are hungry people out there.”
According to Saskatchewan food banks, more than 20,000 people rely on them. The largest food banks are in the cities of Regina and Saskatoon, but smaller centres such as Melville and Melfort also have food banks. The one in Carlyle serves a large area from the Manitoba border to near Weyburn. People in small towns throughout the area collect food. Once a month volunteers bring all the food together and organize it into hampers.
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Before the 1980s there were no food banks in Saskatchewan, but now there are 10.
“A lot of people couldn’t see why there was a need,” James said. “They had to almost have proof. They’d say ‘Who’s getting food bank? Who needs it?’ “
All ages, many reasons
People of all ages and for all reasons need the food bank, James said, but the bank isn’t going to broadcast who receives help, and if people want proof, they can stay skeptical.
“We just say to them if you don’t want to give, don’t give.”
Many people in rural areas can keep an outward appearance that everything is OK, but secretly they may have financial problems that make it hard getting enough food for them and their family. She said single mothers and seniors are two groups who sometimes need help.
“The pension just doesn’t go (far enough),” she said. “That’s all they’ve got. There’s no money they’ve saved.”
The Carlyle food bank has a core group of about 15 families that need help, but that number can double unexpectedly, James said.
A downturn in the economy, or even a drop in the temperature is enough to push some families into hunger. Last January and February dozens of local railway and oilfield workers were thrown out of work because of frigid temperatures and many had to turn to the food bank.
A rural food bank has to deal with local nosiness. No one knows who uses the Regina food bank, but in a small town, things are different.
Residents curious
“You don’t keep very much quiet here. There’s always somebody who knows,” she said. When the food bank opened in 1989, some locals would hang out across the street to see who would come for a food hamper.
Because this might stop people coming to get food, volunteers decided to deliver to the homes of people in need. Over the years this practice has been dropped and food must again be picked up from the bank, but James said it is no longer such a hot item of gossip.
The food bank has also had to fight some people’s unwillingness to donate because they think all the food is going to a local Indian reserve. None of the food is sent there, James said, because the band council and band elders want to take care of their own people, and don’t want to deal with bad publicity.
Balanced diet a problem
Managing to provide a balanced range of foods took some time. At first the variety of items was limited, James said. “When we started we had only soup, pork and beans and macaroni and cheese. That’s all we had to give out.”
But as months and years passed, more and more different foods arrived. Some farmers drop off a quarter beef or pork, hunters sometimes leave deer, and a local abbattoir has also provided meat.
Some types of food might not be donated locally. The Regina food bank has sent out items it has an excess of, as has the Arcola food bank, said James.
Five Saskatchewan food banks are now running a campaign to raise money for facilities and operations.
While only 15 families are now using the food bank in Carlyle, January and February tend to be the worst months of the year, and James said the bank has to be ready to face a sudden increase any time.
“One month you think things are getting better, but then, oh my, you’re swamped again.”
People wishing to donate to the food banks can send to: Box 4631, Regina, Sask., S4P 3Y3. Or people can call 1-800-807-4483.
