Posted by 
As the cost of living rises, Edmonton’s Food Bank says it is seeing an “unprecedented” number of new clients in 2024.
According to the food bank, it has seen 1,700 new clients who have never accessed their services before in the first six months of 2024.
Marjorie Bencz, executive director of Edmonton’s Food Bank, said many of these new clients are low-income earners and newcomers.
“People are coming to Edmonton because they’ve heard it’s more affordable,” Bencz said.
“For the most part, the people we’re seeing — it takes them a while to get settled because they don’t have a job when they arrive and they may have limited accommodation and they don’t have a lot of money.”
Bencz said the organization is also seeing many people on income support, families and the odd senior.
Record-breaking numbers
In May 2024, the food bank reported a record-breaking amount of need, providing 43,323 food hampers to people.
Bencz said with more people seeking the service, they’ve had to change the size of their hampers, making them smaller to meet the demand. Hampers go to people in need and include non-perishable and perishable foods as well as hygiene items.
According to the food bank, from January to June 2024, the food hamper program averaged 39,789 recipients — a 15.5 per cent increase from the 34,446 average recorded for the same period in 2023.
Along with the hamper program, the food bank is providing food to more than 100 schools in the Edmonton area, soup kitchens and other organizations.
“There’s a lot of pressure on our organization, and these partners are doing great work in the community. These groups are meeting people that are food insecure,” Bencz said.
“(We are) trying to work with those groups to find out where we can target (needed) services.”
After opening its third warehouse in June 2023, the organization provided food for 25,343 households and 82,194 people with a food hamper.
Collecting donations at Heritage Festival
Edmonton’s Food Bank is at Heritage Festival from Aug. 3 to 5 collecting non-perishables and cash donations at entrances.
Bencz said partnering with large festivals and events is “really critical” because it brings in much-needed donations.
“They’ve always been very welcoming, and we’ve always celebrated that relationship because we serve a diverse range of people, as well as our staff and volunteers come from all over the world,” Bencz said.
“It’s really nice to see (that despite) the conflict that can happen in the world, it’s food that brings us together, and it’s so nice that food is part of the Heritage Festival and that we’re included.”
