Living in hope for less hunger and fewer food banks

The call has been out for a while. The Wolfville and Area Food Bank needs 360 cans of peas for Christmas hampers later this month. So I had to ask long time volunteer Janet Roberts how many hampers require filling.

She patiently explained to me that some hampers go to single people and others are destined for large families. So the number of cans depends.

On a regular month the food bank feeds between 100 and 110 families, but in December the seasonal hampers are extra. Fortunately the Lions in Port Williams help out with some for their village. Roberts says at this time of year, some parents thoughtfully request a hamper so they can afford a few gifts.

Replicate all those efforts amongst the five other food banks in our region. Consider that volunteers contribute over 800 hours of time many months in just one of them and the import is staggering.

Roberts and the other energetic and compassionate volunteers live in hope that the demand for food assistance will go down. I was interested to ask some questions because of the news last week that forecasters are calling for the cost of food to go up between 1.5 and 3.5 per cent next year. That means the average Canadian family will pay roughly $400 more next year for groceries. That’s tough for those on fixed incomes.

According to Roberts, there’s no one category that the people who need the food bank fall into. Certainly there are some seniors who don’t have good pension plans. But recipients cross all demographics.

Operating out of one corner of a church basement, the Wolfville food bank has no significant storage space. If one of the generous farmers in the area offers some vegetables, Roberts says two banana boxes full are about all they can take.

In 2012-2013 the food bank, which is located in the basement of the town’s Baptist church, had a huge increase in the number of needy people. Four years ago 165 boxes were prepped. The Christmas season alone requires about $50,000 in annual support.

Another long time contributor Diana Shelley remembers that in 2007, when the food bank opened, “quite a significant number of people in this town thought we had absolutely no need of a food bank.” Now it’s a given.

I would like to close by quoting my old friend Sandy Singers, of the Partners in Mission Food Bank in Kingston, Ontario. “In my experience, I have only met people who are humbled, grateful and desperate to feed their families. Conditions around the world right now can seem daunting and untenable. It is hard sometimes to distil the media hype down to the truthful essence of any story, but it is safe to say that the human condition is struggling to find its way to a peaceful place. Most of the stories of suffering and conflict leave us all feeling a little helpless in making any meaningful contribution to solve these big issues.

What we can do, however, and where we do have the power to change, is to look within our own community and find opportunities to lend a hand where needed and support those who are already involved in assisting those in need. The Kingston community has always understood this, and through that generosity continues to help so many.

This Christmas, we should all try as best we can to shut out the noise, turn off the media machines and focus on what is truly important. Our families, friends and our neighbours are the only human condition that matters, after all. Strength and unity with them can empower us all to do great things.”

Published in the Kings County Advertiser Dec. 11, 2018