In the spirit of the season, communities across the county are helping to stock the shelves of area food banks. That’s a good thing, because according to the volunteers and employees, the need never ends.
“We have 400-plus families in our database,” said Fred Aleksandrowicz, manager of the Centre Wellington Food Bank. “In the last few months we’ve served approximately 300 families a month.”
Of those, close to 20 new clients have come to the Fergus location in the last month.
Marg Rapp, coordinator of the Community Pantry in Mount Forest, said her organization supports over 120 people, or 50 families.
“I get about 20 calls a month,” said Bev May, organizer of the Harriston Food Bank. “A lot of people in Harriston are single people. We see all ages.”
Margaret Todd, of the Palmerston Food Bank, said she has a client list of up to 40 people.
“In the last two years it kept climbing,” said Todd. “Many are on social assistance or on Ontario Works, and simply don’t have enough money to get by. There is a lot of working poor.”
Her thoughts echo that of Jeff DeVries, new to the role of volunteer manager of the Drayton Food Bank.
“Our numbers fluctuate from month to month,” DeVries said, noting a total of 35 Christmas hampers have been requested for client families.
Final numbers for Arthur and Clifford food banks were not known at press time.
In Erin, food bank manager Erika Westcott, of East Wellington Community Services (EWCS), knows her numbers well. On a monthly basis from March 2011 to April 2012, EWCS saw 280 families in Erin, handing out 29,000 pounds of food, while the Rockwood location saw 186 families in the same period and roughly 18,000 pounds of food supplied to families there.
Already 75 families in the communities combined have requested a Christmas hamper, with numbers expected to rise to over 90.
This year, from April to November, Erin’s food bank has issued 18,200 pounds of food, with Rockwood distributing 13,000 pounds.
“We haven’t even hit the Christmas hampers yet,” Westcott said. “The need is definitely there.”
The reality may seem startling to some, mainly because hunger is a hidden issue, particularly in a county that is rural and large in size, with many picturesque communities.
Geography is also the reason Wellington County food banks are run independently; to keep the resources local to the communities they serve. The struggle to make ends meet is may be less obvious, but for many families here, as elsewhere, the threat of economic upheaval is close enough that they find themselves in a predicament they could not anticipate.
“Many people are one pay cheque away, or when that second person in the household is laid off, there isn’t a reserve of funds. That’s why they come to the food bank,” Westcott said. “It’s the times and it’s where people are at.”
Westcott notes the extra burden of the holidays is enough to push families over the financial edge.
“Even the families who make it (monthly bill payments) can’t do it when they have to have gifts for their children under the tree.”
In Minto Township, the loss of major employers had a significant impact on household incomes.
“We got our eyes opened when Canada Packers closed,” said May, who explained the Harriston Food Bank began in 1990. “That was the first awakening of what can happen when your biggest employer closes.”
She pointed to the closing of Campbell’s Soup in nearby Listowel as another hard knock to the surrounding community.
“It all comes back around again, but for our community, they could see the need for a food bank more than they used too.”
When jobs leave town, the challenge to look beyond a community for work is an expensive necessity and lands many people in a financial trap.
“You have to leave the community to find the work,” said May.
Aleksandrowicz refers to the years 2008 and 2009 as “the period of the greatest needs, because of the economic downturn.” Unfortunately, the ripple effect of that period has maintained the steady requests for aid. “The needs here are about the same as last year,” he confirmed.
Westcott said, “Because we are rural it makes it harder for people. A lot of them have to rely on transportation [to get to work]… that aspect is particularly challenging, it’s another factor that really plays into their challenge; the cost of having a car to commute, insurance, gas expenses.”
She added the reality is that despite all efforts, the local economy doesn’t often have jobs that pay a wage good enough to get clients out of debt and back on their feet.
It’s a slippery slope, but one each of the food bank organizers sees continually. There are also clients who face the challenge of disabilities, mental illness or are on a social assistance program, which though helpful, doesn’t always make ends meet.
“In all fairness, these people really don’t get enough money to get by,” said May.
That is when people need the security of the food hampers most, but in every community, there is awareness that there is a need beyond those who reach out for help. There is a silent minority who won’t come forward, particularly seniors, and that is a serious concern for each of the food banks.
“A lot of people are in need who won’t come forward. I think it is because of pride,” said Todd, who worries for those who don’t make use of the food bank located in the basement of the Palmerston United Church. “I always say, ‘it’s not a handout; it’s a hand up.’”
May agrees. “I’m sure there are those who need it that won’t come forward. It’s pride, plus they don’t want anybody to know.”
That stigma of poverty and charity is something each of these individuals’ works hard to change.
“We treat people with respect, dignity and equity,” said Aleksandrowicz. “We operate on the ‘holy trinity’ of food bank operations: equity, dignity and social justice.”
This is a key element to the draw of volunteers, without whom none of the food banks would operate. Only Centre Wellington and Erin have a full-time employee in Aleksandrowicz and Westcott.
All others are operated entirely by volunteers, who offer up the spirit of humanity in goodwill either by stocking the shelves, driving or being a guiding force on the board of governance that mandate each of these operations. Whatever the role, volunteers are vital.
“We’re all volunteers,” said Todd, who works with a team of five volunteers a week. “Some of us donate a lot of time and gas, picking up donations, grocery shopping, sorting and stocking the pantry.”
But she notes there are challenges in running an organization based on volunteers. “Most of our volunteers work. We have jobs and can only donate so much time.”
At the Community Pantry in Mount Forest, food hampers are delivered to each individual or family who request one. Considering the entire organization is made up of 12 volunteers, there is a lot of work to be done.
Things are much the same in Drayton, where DeVries is a volunteer with a full-time job, a young family and he is also a volunteer firefighter. For him, creating a system to delegate the work involved in managing a food bank is essential to keeping things running smoothly.
“Everything here is on an on-call basis,” DeVries said of the workload. “I have volunteers in place that I can call.” He is grateful for their support.
“If it wasn’t for the strong volunteer force we have, we wouldn’t be able to do this,” confirms Westcott, whose team includes four volunteers weekly, plus many more volunteers in other aspects of her agency. “They do a tremendous amount.”
Adam Rogers of the Centre Wellington Food Bank is one of several key volunteers that Aleksandrowicz considers “indispensable,” from the administration work, the creation of social media site to the sorting and pick up of foods to the daily maintenance.
“Adam took on five community gardens for the food bank,” said Aleksandrowicz. “He even donated some of the shares of his own garden and brought in fresh produce.”
Roger said, “What I find here is that the teamwork … we have perfect teamwork etiquette. One thing I see when people drop off food or items, I always say, ‘thank you for the donation,’ and I always get a smile back.”
Proud of his volunteers, from the board members to the 20 weekly supporters, with a roll-call of 100 more, Aleksandrowicz adds, “If I had all the donations I need, I still couldn’t run this food bank without my volunteers.”
So what’s in it for them?
“It’s probably one of the most rewarding things you can do, because there is no way we’re going to see people go hungry,” said Todd. “We get the reward of knowing we make a difference.”
May worries about the clients who don’t have family support. “I do this because the people are really grateful. For some of them, I am their life-line.”
Rapp respects her clients and takes pleasure in knowing she’s doing something positive for them. “I know they’ve gone through some hard times themselves, and some are reluctant to ask for help. It just feels good to help them.”
Yet all of them acknowledge that it is the community support that makes food banks possible. From the churches, schools, local farmers and agricultural societies who share their harvest, to the private individuals, grocery stores and retailers, service clubs and police, emergency services and firefighters – each community food bank has benefited from the generosity of neighbours helping neighbours.
“Because our client level has tripled since 2008, we are able to meet the demand because of the community,” said Aleksandrowicz.
Added Westcott, “Churches and service clubs have always been extremely supportive, and the community overall, but we’re always looking for partnerships.”
Todd believes her community’s generosity comes from a shared sense of understanding the need. “It’s often people who have had hard times before who are more inclined to help out now.”
Ironically, each of the food banks operate on budgets and grants that make it difficult to stock the pantries, much less keep the doors open, making them as vulnerable as the people they serve.
“It’s expensive to run a food bank,” said Westcott, a sentiment echoed by her colleagues. “We’re trying to maximize what comes in. Rest assured we are searching the flyers to find what we can get to maximize the resources.”
DeVries does much of the shopping at his Drayton location and pays special attention to the missing foods, the things donors don’t often think of, like cooking oil, sugar, flour; ingredients that fill out a recipe.
“I don’t think anybody realizes what goes into a hamper,” DeVries said. “To make a more well-rounded selection of food, it really takes a kick to the budget.”
Rapp notes one of her challenges is to find quality food for children’s school lunches and breakfasts, especially cereals and juices.
“It’s difficult to buy things that are nutritious,” she said of her budget.
May agrees. “Kids’ lunches are really hard. These are the things that cost a lot of money. That’s a concern.”
May said the budget’s priority is to buy foods to make simple meals.
Westcott said a simple staple like milk has to be divided to support numerous clients.
“Even if it is one bag of milk, it does help and we try to really support that,” Westcott said. She adds things like laundry detergent and toiletries are important donations to receive.
“These things are expensive and they add up [to the budget] ridiculously fast,” Westcott said.
“Many people don’t check expiry dates. It’s rather discouraging to have a whack of food that you can’t give away,” said Todd.
In the space of smaller food banks, like Harriston and Palmerston, which operate literally out of a closet in the basement of their community’s United Churches, having the storage space prevents the food banks from holding on to fresh foods like produce, dairy or meats.
“There is only so much space to store and keep stuff,” said May.
“Our saving grace is that the United Church doesn’t charge us or take anything in return,” states Todd. “We know that we would be struggling if we were in another location and had to pay rent. We would struggle.”
In Centre Wellington, despite a modern facility, Aleksandrowicz is clear that monthly bills and rent are an ongoing concern for the future.
May understands that concern. “The future of my food bank is where is it going to be housed? Where is the money going to come from? These concerns are going to be coming back to the community.”
The hidden issue of hunger is an ongoing concern for the volunteers and managers of area food banks. Yet they want their communities to know the clients are grateful and the volunteers are too.
“People are doing a huge amount by supporting the food bank,” said Westcott. “Food never goes to waste and it won’t ever go waste. It will always be needed. “
To contact Wellington County food banks, visit www. volunteerguelphwellington.on.ca for contact information.
