The High River Food Bank is seeing an increase in demand.

Shiela MacDonald with the Salvation Army says numbers are up 25 per cent from a year ago.

"It's very sad to say that our shelves are almost bare. We are on average (serving) 284 families in a month in High River and the Foothills that doesn't have their own food bank," she says.

"We have donations coming in but we actually started to purchase food on a weekly basis too just to fill up our hampers so we need all the donations we can get."

She says with the increases in prices for things like utilities, gas and rent the people using the food bank are just trying to make ends meet, and by providing food they can spend their income on those essentials.

"We actually need snacks and after-school snacks because in that area too we're very low."

Here's a list of items the Food Bank needs:

  • Snacks, granola bars, pudding, juice boxes, apple sauce cups any snack cookies and crackers
  • Canned meats, tuna, chicken, ham, turkey
  • Rice
  • Sugar
  • Oil
  • Flour
  • Ketchup
  • Mayonnaise
  • Kraft dinner, Ichiban
  • Laundry and bar soap
  • Shampoo, conditioner
  • Toothbrushes, toothpaste
  • Dish soap, bathroom cleaner
  • Paper towels, toilette paper tissues.

They're looking forward to the Food Drive Saturday September 23rd put on by the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints.

MacDonald says they're very appreciative of the church and its members for putting on the Food Drive for them.

 

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