Agape Table expansion underscores surging food demand

Food banks and non-profit organizations across Manitoba are expanding their spaces to meet record demand for food.

Agape Table showed off its new 10,500-square foot home at 350 Furby St. Thursday, where it has planted permanent roots for the first time in its 45-year history.

It is located next to the Wave Church, where it had been operating out of the basement for eight years.

The executive director of the food-distribution charity said a bigger space has been needed for years.

“(The need) just got bigger and bigger. And then (the COVID-19 pandemic) hit, and people were more in need, and the numbers just kept going up,” said Jim Steep.

In 2019, Agape Table served bagged breakfasts — soup, sandwiches, pastry, food and a drink — to between 200 and 300 clients each day.

The number now is upwards of 800 people.

Agape Table previously operated out of All Saints Anglican Church for nearly 30 years. After a new apartment complex began construction beside the church, the organization wanted a more appropriate location for the food bank.

The new facility will have extended hours, including serving food on weekends. Clients will be served inside the building, rather than curbside outside the church. It will also restore some programming that was halted when it moved to the Wave Church.

Agape Table board chair Cathy Umlah called the new space a labour of love.

“May this building bring nourishment to those in need and comfort to those who are struggling with all of the challenges that life brings them,” she said at the building’s grand opening.

Food insecurity has reached an all-time high in Canada. Food Banks Canada reported last March there were nearly 2.2 million visits to food banks in the country, the highest number in history. Food bank usage has doubled since March 2019, and is 5.2 per cent higher than it was in 2024, the report stated. It also noted one-third of food bank clients are children.

Harvest Manitoba is also seeing record numbers. In April, the organization served more than 61,000 households and is “bursting at the seams,” its chief executive officer said.

“It’s well over double what we were doing just a few years ago,” said Vince Barletta. “People are continuing to fall further and further behind and when times are challenging, when economic circumstances are precarious, it’s people that have the least that hurt the most.”

The cumulative increases of the cost of basic necessities, such as food and shelter, have created an affordability crisis and driven food bank use, Food Banks Canada’s report said.

Harvest is busy working away at an Indigenous-led, grocery store-style food bank and resource hub that’s expected to open later this year. The $14-million project on Notre Dame Avenue is in partnership with the Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre. The grocery store model would enable clients to select the items they need rather than taking a pre-determined food hamper.

A fundraising campaign for a food transformation centre is also underway, Barletta said. Harvest is planning to construct the centre, which would partner with local farmers to use their surplus for its operations.

Meanwhile, the Salvation Army will officially open its community services location in Neepawa next week. The expanded food bank within it will increase its serving capacity to 75 households and provide approximately 5,000 pounds of food per month, up from 50 households per month in the former space.

The food bank will also enable clients to shop for groceries using a points-based system.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca