‘We know how tough it is out there’: Christmas Cheer Board braces for record demand By: Kevin Rollason Posted: 6:05 PM CDT Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023

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This article was published 02/11/2023 (760 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Christmas Cheer Board is expecting to deliver 19,000 food hampers this holiday season — the most in its 104-year history — as demand for food banks reaches record highs in Manitoba.

That’s why the organization is taking calls on Fridays now, much earlier in the fall than usual, executive director Shawna Bell said.

“We figured we’d catch a few more people who need help this year,” Bell said Thursday.

“Last year we handed out 18,313 hampers. I believe this was the highest (number) we have ever had, but we will be higher this year. I predict, because it is tough out there for people, we will hand out 19,000 hampers this year.”

A nationwide report from Food Banks Canada released last week paints a bleak picture — there has been a 32 per cent increase in food-bank use in Canada in 2023 compared to last year.

In Manitoba, one in four people using a food bank is employed. As the cost of living has remained high, more and more people are slowly slipping under the poverty line.

The Cheer Board, which changes locations based on vacancies and donated space, has a new home this year where a flooring store had been at 895 Century St.

“The footprint we need is hard to come by these days,” Bell said. “We need 30,000 square feet.”

Approximately 1,000 newcomers who fled the war in Ukraine applied for hampers last year, and Bell expects many of them are struggling to make ends meet and will again be looking for help.

Hamper recipients last Christmas ranged from 6,007 people who identified as single, to one family which — counting parents, children and foster children — was made up of 22 members. The Cheer Board helped 28,830 adults, in total.

As well, 21,922 were children were helped by last year’s campaign, including 944 infants, 997 one year olds and nearly 1,200 13 year olds.

Kids under the age of 14 also receive a Christmas gift.

Calls to the Cheer Board (204-989-5683) from low-income, pensioners, students and new Canadians are answered beginning at 9 a.m. People on income assistance can call 204-948-2022 between 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. They need to have an IA case number.

Pickups and deliveries start on Dec. 5.

“We feel terrible for folks out there,” she said. “We know how tough it is out there for many people. Anyone who goes into a grocery knows what it is like when they look at the prices.

“It stretches their ability to feed themselves and their families.”

No one who calls asking for a hamper is turned away, she said.

“We’re not cutting off anyone,” she said. “We asked Harvest Manitoba for their cutoff, and they said, ‘If people are hungry and come to us for help, we help them.’

“That’s what we’re doing, too. We’re here to help.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca