The Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre kicked off its month long food drive Sunday with the theme “Don’t Let Your Neighbour Fall Through the Cracks”. Director of Operations Deborah Hamp says they need non-perishables like pasta, rice, canned tuna, pasta sauce, hearty soups and they are running low on infant formula. The brand they prefer, which is agreeble to a wide-spectrum of babies, is Similac.

Hamp says monetary donations allows them to use their bulk purchasing power as well, and those can be made through the website. She says the increase in the overall cost of living is impacting not only people who rely on the food bank but on donors who contribute. “There’s a report that came out recently by Dalhousie University saying that the average cost of food moving ahead in 2022 for a family of four is close to $15,000 a year. When you look at Saskatchewan having a very low minimum wage and you looking at what people are up against with the rising gas prices and rising food costs its putting all sorts of folks in a really tight spot.”

She says this city-wide food drive will be for the entire month of May as the food bank tries to restock prior to summer when kids are out of school and no longer have access to breakfast and lunch programs. Prior to the pandemic the food drive was the first Saturday in May and it involved church groups, service clubs and hundred of volunteers.