Harvest Manitoba prepares for another record-busy season

Items like cans of soup are becoming more and more expensive, and now following the usual summer slow down. Harvest Manitoba says it’s preparing for an increase in demand as the cooler temperatures arrive and officials say they’re gearing up for what could be their busiest seasons yet.

This spring, Harvest Manitoba recorded its busiest month on record, serving more than 108,000 Manitobans in the month of March, and its CEO Vince Barletta expects the season ahead, to see demand climb to heights the food bank and community hub has never seen.

“Sadly, the fundamentals have not changed. The fundamentals that are driving food bank demand — inflationary pressures, people with low-wages, challenges with poverty, particular in Manitoba, child poverty,” said Barletta.

“We’re not seeing those fundamentals shift in any meaningful way, so sadly, our expectation is that we’re going to need support even more families than we’ve had to do over the last year.”

It’s not just food banks that are seeing more and more people needing support, as Said Ahmadi, who owns Millad Supermarket and Halal Meats on Notre Dame, says families are actively stretching their grocery budgets further and further.

“People before buying: 5 to 6 kilo meat, lamb, beef and chicken and now, they reduce it to 2 kilo, 1.5 kilo — they can’t afford it,” explained Ahmadi.

Owner of Millad Supermarket and Halal Meats, Said Ahmadi, said families are trying to stretch their budgets further and further as food costs continue to increase. (Photo Credit: Morgan Modjeski, CityNews)

Running the shop for 15 years, the long-time business owner says more and more people are bargaining on prices with some customers even resorting to theft.

“Each family has seven or eight kids. You have to feed them.”

He stresses he tries to help when he can, but the economy has not been kind to shop-owners either, as things like freight and food costs have jumped for them as well, saying things have not been the same since the COVID-19 pandemic, and government should be doing more to support those in the province who are struggling.

“After COVID people don’t have a good life,” said Ahmadi.

Barletta says as demand at the food bank continues to climb, he hopes issues around poverty at the root of hunger, become an election issue in the weeks ahead of the provincial vote, saying as they prepare unprecedented times, they hope the generosity of the community — in the form of volunteer hours, donations, and even fresh produce from this year’s harvest — will allow them to meet the challenge head on.

“It takes a province to feed a province.”