Community pantry seeks to help stabilize seniors food insecurity

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This article was published 14/07/2023 (1047 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Paying the rent, getting meds or going hungry. Those are dilemmas no senior wants to confront.

“I have people call me, telling me, ‘I haven’t eaten in a week,’ because they can’t afford food,” said Megan Wallace, a program supervisor at the Good Neighbours Active Living Centre in Winnipeg.

“I have seniors telling me that they’ve stopped filling their prescriptions because they’re hungry. There are people applying for ‘rent assist’ because they can’t afford to live here.”

Recent spiking inflation has forced some seniors who have a fixed income to pick between covering the cost of necessities or scrimping on their food budget. As the price of groceries goes up, so does the number of seniors who grapple with putting food on the table.

The centre’s Supports to Seniors program, which provides opportunities for adults over 55 to stay active and connected with their community, operates in four apartment buildings on Henderson Highway and Oakland Avenue.

The program has shifted to include supports to address food insecurity; roughly 30 per cent of their senior residents access food banks or food pantries, said Wallace.

“There’s so many young people, families and seniors who are really struggling today with food, and food isn’t something in our society people should struggle with.”

One out of five Manitobans who used a food bank in 2022 was over the age of 60, said Harvest Manitoba chief executive officer Vince Barletta.

To help address the issue, Victoria Lifeline and the Victoria Hospital Foundation, organizations dedicated to promoting the well-being of older adults, have established an annual funding pool of $10,000 for a healthy community partnership grant.

“What we see as an organization is older adults putting up their hands and saying, ‘Now more than ever, we are struggling,’” said Krystal Stokes, director of marketing and development at Victoria Lifeline.

Good Neighbours, one of three grant recipients, is creating a pantry for seniors. Staff will install shelves and put out a community call for donations to jump-start the program in September.

Senior residents will be able to request a coupon to spend at the food pantry once a month.

Coupons will be valued between $20 to $40, depending on the program funds and how many access the service. Each food item will be given a specific dollar value and users will be required to use their coupon in a single day.

Residents can arrange to swap food items in the pantry — even those they’ve received from an outside food bank they don’t like or aren’t able to eat.

Wallace said a few barriers, including a lack of transportation, affect seniors’ ability to go to grocery stores and manage their cost of living. In the last few years, many have moved in with a family member to ease their financial burden, she added.

Wallace would like to see the government provide more supports for them to manage rent increases and increases to Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement.

In May, more than 46,000 Manitobans relied on a food bank to meet a portion of their monthly household food needs, said Barletta. That’s more than 20,000 households using a food bank somewhere in the province.

“For anyone living on a fixed income, inflation is always a tough story.”

Survey data in the 2021-22 Harvest Manitoba report show 67.5 per cent of food bank clients were predominantly female, and were 49.5 years old, on average.

The survey showed many respondents identified with having an annual income of $10,000 to $20,000 per year; 41 per cent received less than $10,000 annually.

“Food insecurity is something that we hear about a lot,” said Stokes.

The healthy community partnership grant addresses financial hardship, food insecurity and social isolation, which are some of the biggest challenges for older adults.

The funding helps eligible organizations acquire essential medical equipment, support activities or programs that contribute to the well-being of older adults and respond to issues faced by their community members.

Bridgepark Manor Inc. in Steinbach and Seniors Independent Services in the Rural Municipality of Prairie Lakes also received grants.

tessa.adamski@freepress.mb.ca