‘It’s shameful’: NB has second highest rate of food insecurity in Canada
New Brunswick has the second highest rate of food insecurity in the country, behind only Alberta, according to a recent report by PROOF, a food insecurity research program based at the University of Toronto.
PROOF found that nearly one out of every six households in the country had problems or concerns meeting their food needs in 2021. And in New Brunswick, that number was even higher, with 19% (about 64,000 households) reporting food insecurity.
“I think it’s shameful,” says Heather Patterson, director of the Sackville Food Bank. “It’s something that all people who work with food banks know, and it’s been going on like this for a very long time.”
Patterson says food banks are not the answer. “Successive governments have been aware of these problems and have tried to fix things with giving money to food banks,” says Patterson. “That’s not the solution. The Food Bank is a great stopgap measure, but it shouldn’t be the solution to poverty or food insecurity.”
The PROOF report is based on Statistics Canada’s Canadian Income Survey conducted in 2021, and also breaks down the severity of food insecurity that people are experiencing.
In New Brunswick, nearly 6%—or 20,000 households—are severely food insecure, meaning they miss meals, reduce their food intake and sometimes go without food.… Continue
Community Cupboard coming to Sackville, and the challenges of getting food to kids in the summer
With 66 new households signing up for biweekly food pick-ups at the Sackville Food Bank, the need for the service is growing. Food bank director Heather Patterson says families are feeling the pinch, with food prices having risen by nearly 10% in the past year, according to Statistics Canada.
CHMA stopped by the Sackville Food Bank to talk with Patterson about the challenge of continuing to get food to kids who need it during the summer months, and a new project on the horizon, a Community Cupboard that could open in the fall in Sackville.
As you walk into the Sackville Food Bank these days, there are stacks of boxes filled with non-perishable food for kids. The boxes are part of a summer program partly supplied by Food Banks Canada, meant to help kids who normally rely on school-based food programs to supplement their diet.
Patterson and other food bank volunteers will add to the bags before distributing them to kids in the area. But that distribution is challenging in the summer. Without schools to get the food to kids who need it, the Sackville Food Bank is relying on its current clients and others to reach out, as well as offering bags through day camps that don’t already provide meal service.… Continue
Sackville Food Bank finds a temporary home courtesy of The Black Duck
The Sackville Food Bank has found a new, temporary home after a flood forced it to move out of its current space at 9B Willow Lane.
Food bank president Heather Patterson says the group was able to move in Monday morning to 21 Bridge Street, right beside the Black Duck Cafe, courtesy of an invitation from cafe owners Al Barbour and Sarah Evans.
“We’ll probably be a month before we can move back into our normal space,” says Patterson. “So Alan and Sarah have given us the storefront for as long as we need it, bless their hearts. I don’t know what we would have done without them.”
Al Barbour says once he heard about the flood (while listening to Meg Cunningham on Tantramar Report), he thought immediately of the empty storefront next to the Black Duck.
“It’s just sitting there empty, full of fridges and freezers,” says Barbour. “So we just inquired if they needed a space… We offered it up and they accepted it. And they’ll be there until they can go back to the other space.”
Patterson says the Black Duck space is a bit smaller than the food bank’s permanent location, but with two freezers and two fridges there, it’s a “wonderful solution” to the rather immediate problem they faced.
The Willow Lane location flooded due to a water main break last Wednesday morning, forcing the food bank to cancel its regular pick up day and go into emergency recovery mode.… Continue