Unprecedented summer demand at Calgary Food Bank

With inflationary pressures, and the Bank of Canada’s recent rate hike, a lot of people are finding it challenging to do more with less — that’s led to higher demand at the Calgary Food Bank this summer and could mean bigger problems as kids head back to school.

Instead of seeing the usual summer slow down, the Calgary Food Bank says it saw an unprecedented number of families in need of emergency food hampers.

“Usually, we see that folks have access to more fresh produce, they plant gardens, there’s community gardens. During that Stampede season, we’ve got a lot of barbecues and pancake breakfasts and things like that, that folks who are maybe on the edge of not being able to make ends meet can access free food. And so, this year really has been an anomaly in that we did not see the slowdown,” said Calgary Food Bank president and CEO Melissa From.

From September to June – many Calgary families rely on school breakfast and lunch programs for their kids. So, during the summer they look to the food bank for some extra support.

“Certainly, during the school year, we do see more supports for the children and that’s hugely important and we’re working pretty closely with some of our community partners like Brown Bagging for Kids and Breakfast Clubs of Canada to fill in some of those gaps during the summer months,” From said.

And as families prepare for their kids to head back to school, support from the food bank looks a little different.

“We have a program we call Weekends and More and that’s where we ensure that kids have some snacks and some food and some things to take home in their backpack for the weekends and for those PD days and for the Christmas Break so that those gaps are filled,” the CEO said.

The Calgary Food Bank has had a unique challenge this summer — not only are they preparing emergency food hampers for Calgarians in need — but also displaced wildfire evacuees from out of province.

From says they are always grateful for food and monetary donations.