Food bank to charge small fee
'Our other option is just to close down,' says chair of Inuvik Food Bank
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Thursday, May 4, 2017
INUVIK
Despite taking measures to reduce costs last fall and even a surprise donation from local charitable group 100 People Who Care Inuvik, the Inuvik Food Bank is barely managing to keep its head above water.
Heather Wheating, chair of the Inuvik Food Bank, outlines some of the changes the organization is making in order to stay alive. Among them is that most food given out will no longer be free. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL photo
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The organization is now taking more extreme measures to survive, chief among them being the move to a model where users pay a subsidized price for food instead of receiving it for free.
"The whole thing is really about sustainability," said Heather Wheating, chair of the Inuvik Food Bank.
Users will now have to register with government ID for every person in their household who will be receiving food from the food bank. They will then be able to pay $10 for a flat of food for each two people in their household once per month.
The cost of the flat of food will be around $40, said Wheating, representing about a 75 per cent subsidy to users.
"They're still getting real value," said Wheating. "It's a really good way to get good nutrition at a very reduced, subsidized cost. That's a big change. No longer will people be getting flats at no cost. They will be getting flats at a 75-per-cent reduction."
The flats will include meat, potatoes, onions, pasta, skim milk powder, oatmeal and soup base. They are meant to be a foundation that families can use as a base for their meals.
That idea was initially brought up in September, but the organization tried to avoid going to such a drastic measure. But with its financial picture still gloomy, it will be implementing the changes now.
"This is sustainability, so that this way there's a little bit of cost-sharing with food," said Wheating.
Hours at the food bank will be changing too.
On the first and third Sundays of each month, users will be able to register at the library from 2 to 3:30 p.m. and pick up food at the food bank from 2 to 4 p.m. Still, users will be able to pick up only one allotment per month.
The split with registering in the library and then getting the food in the food bank is so that there is no money held in the food bank. Users will pay in the library and receive a receipt to bring over to the food bank.
"We realize that this is quite a change," said Wheating. "We very much recognize that. We also believe this helps to build capacity and people can contribute to the food bank as well as benefitting from it."
On top of reduced funding, the food bank is also struggling with maintaining enough volunteers to keep running. It had to close on a distribution day last month, something it hasn't done in years, said Wheating.
She said there will still be some superfluous food items given out for free, but encouraged people who cannot afford the Inuvik Food Bank to use the Arctic Food Bank in town, run by the Muslim Welfare Centre.
"We spend thousands and thousands of dollars a week on food," said Wheating, adding that the organization cannot go into a deficit, but has come close to zero over the last year.
Five years ago the food bank was giving out 30 flats per distribution. Now it averages around 100, said Wheating.
"Our costs have risen exponentally and our revenues haven't," she said.
The changes at the food bank will run as a trial program over the next few months.
Wheating hopes it can make the organization sustainable.
