Board members of the Red River Valley Food Bank held a special meeting May 27 to develop a plan to reduce costs.
The year-end financial statements for 2024 showed that there was a decrease in donations of $16,033 and an increase in expenses by $19,263 compared to 2023. Total number of visits was up by 14.8 per cent and the cost of groceries per visit was up 11 per cent.
“Donations in 2024 were less than donations in 2023, and the number of clients have increased,” said director Pat Rempel. “Realizing something had to change, we called a board meeting.”
Clients can use the services of the food bank every two weeks, going home with a hamper full of food assembled by volunteers.
The organization started in the basement of a local church in the early ‘90s. One of the original founding members is Rosalie Fulford, who remains an active board member today.
“The goal was to give people something to tie them over,” Fulford said. “It was never meant to supply a full grocery order. When we started, you were lucky to get Kraft dinner and tomato soup. Later on the hampers got bigger as there was more money through fundraising and donations.”
The meeting organizers invited Pat Schmitke, owner of the Morris Bigway grocery store, to get his input on ways to cut costs. Bigway supplies all items purchased at cost and donates meat items every week.
“Your goal should be to get as much food as you can for each dollar spent,” Schmitke urged the board. “Purchasing generic products instead of name brand and making bulk purchases when items you require are in the weekly flyers are two ways to reduce food costs.”
The meeting focused on the client selection list—which gives clients some agency on what food their family most needs/wants—to determine what items the food bank will continue to stock. Due to their cost, they removed 17 items from that list.
The committee also put the restriction “for children only” on some items and reduced the quantities of others that will continue to be distributed.
“It was hard to cut items,” said board member Liz Giesbrecht, noting they did try to take a measured approach. “Reducing coffee from two cups to one cup allows us to still provide coffee, just not as much.”
Facing lower donations, the board has developed a campaign to promote community giving at their annual fall food drive. The food drive will use a promotional bag sponsored by Sun Valley Coop, Red River Seeds, Super Thrifty, Rempel Insurance, Albright Ventures, Morris Area Foundation, Fehr’s Cabinets, and realtor Cheryl Demarcke to get the message out about the growing needs of the agency.
A fresh corn sale event planned for August will kick-off the food drive. A cash donation to the food bank will get you a promotional bag full of corn. Bags will be available at local businesses for distribution.
