Tough times for Nova Scotians are continuing amid the high cost of living, according to local food banks, and the summer months will bring unique challenges.
Feed Nova Scotia has experienced a 50 per cent increase in demand for its services since 2019.
“We’ve just never seen this level of need across the province.” said Ash Avery, executive director for Feed Nova Scotia.
The charity now has about 2,000 people accessing its network of food banks, shelters and meal programs each day.
“Between January and March, it was about 111,000 visits. So this is seven per cent more than this time last year,” said Avery.
And with summer on the horizon, the organization expects to have fewer resources as volunteers take vacation time. At the same time, families will be feeling the impact of the pause in the provincial school lunch program.
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“(The school lunch program) really does help to support kids who are in families and households that are experiencing poverty or food insecurity,” said Avery.
She says while the one-time GST top-up this month was helpful, it’s not consistent enough to make a real difference.
“We just saw the groceries and essentials benefit that went out to Canadians — to some Canadians, I should say — and things like that are helpful, but they are sort of one-time investments while we need to see something that is more systemic and prolonged,” she said.
“We really want to see ourselves in a different place in the next few years. We want to those numbers come down of people who are having to go to food banks and access emergency support.”
Avery would like to see a renewed poverty reduction strategy for the province, pointing out that it’s been more than 15 years since the last one. That, she says, is the only way to understand as a province how to properly address poverty.
Halifax’s Parker Street Food and Furniture Bank is also feeling the increased demand, giving out about 100 food boxes a day.
“On the radar would be the rising cost of everything. The rising cost of fuel, the rising costs of groceries. Anytime that happens, it affects our families and affects the children in those families,” said Brigitte MacInnes, Parker Street director of donor relations and communications.
“So there’s a greater need within the community for a food bank and for the services we provide here.”
She echoes the sentiment that a seasonal uptick in demand is expected.
“Summertime means that the school food programs are over. So that means that there is increased pressure on budgets that may already be tight,” she said.
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