The Cortes Island Food Bank at a Critical Crossroad

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Cortes Island Food Bank has met the rapidly expanding need for its services, but says it is time the local, provincial and federal governments stepped up to the plate. Only 110 food hampers were given out in 2022, but since August they have seen at least a threefold increase of demand every month. There were 86 clients in January and 70 in February. Prior to this, the highs for both months was 12.  
 “We really knew that the numbers that we were seeing in previous years were not reflecting the level of poverty that exists here.  So we were doing some strategic things to try to increase people's awareness of the food bank. That was a major reason  why our numbers went up so significantly.  People felt that they could come to us.  They knew it was a safe place to come for support. I think our clients are already dealing with so many challenges in their lives. I encourage anybody listening, if you  could use some help,  just come to us and we'll get you some food,” explained Beatrix Baxter, one of the Foodbank’s Directors.   
 Food Bank Coordinator and Director Filipe Figueira, added, “These are all people in our community who historically could get by and these days they just can’t." 
 “We'll keep applying for grants and  we feel a bit reluctant asking people for more money on the island because there's a lot of people who are also struggling, also donating. If people  have  the ability to give more money it's always welcome, but we do face this national issue and it is something that I think the SRD,  provincial government, federal government needs to look into funding more directly.”