In a region of roughly 19,000 people, the Battlefords District Food and Resource Centre supported about one in ten of them last month.

A release from the Centre says in October, one of its busiest months on record, 1935 people were touched by the food bank, either through a food hamper home delivery or a Food for Kids bag received at school.

The release continues that amongst these October clients, 50 per cent of them were children, another 15 per cent were seniors, and Indigenous clients accounted for 64 per cent of visitors. The Food Bank saw usage rates in the post-secondary student and immigrant categories double year over year in October, to five per cent and ten per cent respectively.

Many clients that utilize a provincial income support program reported that rent consumed 40-70 per cent of their income, leaving them with very little cash to cover food expenses.

Despite this increased demand for its services, the Battlefords District Food and Resource Centre operates solely on donations from the Battlefords community, receiving zero core funding.