Who uses food banks today? It might not be who you think

Olga Almeida is always surprised by the number of people who require food aid, even after 23 years of working at a food bank in Laval, Que.

"I knew there were poor people here but I never thought there would be that many in need that they wouldn't be able to pay their bills," she says.

Lately, she's been encountering more and more first timers.

"Once in a while you do get a person who just cries and cries because they never thought that it would happen to them," she says. "They feel like it's a losing battle."

All she can do is hand them a shopping cart filled with foodstuff from the Centre de bnvolat et moisson Laval, while reassuring them that bad luck can strike anybody.

Quebec's minister responsible for social solidarity and community action, Chantal Rouleau, allotted an extra $8 million on top of the $10 million announced in the province's economic update to the Food Banks of Quebec, last Thursday,to help it bridge the gap between donation and the growing demand for food aid.

According to the umbrella organization CBC's 2023 charity of the year one in 10 Quebecers rely on food banks every month to make ends meet. Of those, 18.5 per cent have a job and just under 10 per cent receive a pension.

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That money will go toward food purchases which are then distributed across Food Banks of Quebec's regional members like Moisson Montreal who in turn distribute the food to smaller organizations like the West Island Assistance Fund (WIAF.)

Moussa Abdelkerim is the executive director of that non-profit in the Montreal borough of PierrefondsRoxboro. He often sees himself in a lot of the clients that drop by; he used to rely on food banks as a newcomer.

"For us they're ordinary normal people who are going through a situation. They're not people on the outskirts of society," he says.

"It's not really who everyone might picture in their mind."

Jessica Mahilun and her husband both have full-time jobs, but she says the high cost of living in Canada still means they have to make a trip to their local food bank in Montreal twice a month to help them feed their family of five.

Mahilun's family is among 585 households registered with the WIAF food bank. More than 100 of them only registeredin the last eight months.

She says she saves about $300 monthly thanks to the WIAF, but that money is immediately poured into covering the $1,800 rent on her apartment, bills and other expenses.

"It really helps us, especially for the kids," she says.

Mahilun moved to Montreal with her three children from the Philippines in May, after living apart from her husband for a decade while he worked in Singapore.

Eventually, she says she'd like to continue her career as a nurse in Quebec, buy a houseand register her kids in dance and karate classes.

"I really want to provide them with that," says Mahilun.

Suzy McCready is part of the 41.9 per cent of food bank users who receive social assistance.

She became unable to work after a bad fall and now relies on pain medication to get by. Visiting a food bank once a week for the last five years has allowed her to put the money she receives toward her rent $724 monthly which she covers by herself.

"It's not that I don't want to work," she says. "I can't just do anything for work and it's difficult to find something I'd like."

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Abdelkerimsays there's no limit on the amount of time someone can be registered to receive food.

"Our goal is to accompany the community," he says. "We want to help guide people toward autonomy."

If it were up to him, the food bank would extend its hours until 6 p.m. every day to accommodate the growing list of clients. But volunteers have been hard to come by, especially after the pandemic.

"We've become like a barrier so people don't see the poverty in Canada and Quebec," says Abdelkerim. "If today we fall, the truth will come out."

During the month of December, CBC will be working with Food Banks of Quebec to showcase stories of people in our community who are making a difference for our "Make the Season Kind" campaign. For more stories and to learn more about this campaign, visitcbc.ca/bekindqc. You can make a donation to Food Banks of Quebechere.