The Gimli-based Evergreen Basic Needs food bank is considering switching to a different model of food support for those unable to meet the enduring high cost of groceries, housing and bills.
Evergreen Basic Needs executive director Karen Bowman and board chair Larry Moore had met with Gimli council at its March 26 meeting to provide an update on the activities at EBN, the challenges it continues to face with an increasing number of people turning to food banks for help, and the generosity of Gimli and area residents and businesses.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Bowman said food banks across Canada have seen an alarming jump in the numbers of people struggling to cope with the high cost of food, increasing mortgage and rent costs, household bills and other expenses. Paycheques are not keeping pace with the overall cost of living, forcing people to turn to food banks. Some people have been left with no choice but to move in with strangers to help cover housing costs and some people have become homeless.
“Food banks in general across the country are struggling and seeing their numbers skyrocket,” said Bowman. “Our [EBN’s] growth rate is around 11.5 per cent. And as I had said to council, food banks should not be in the growth industry. We should be working to make ourselves obsolete, but, unfortunately, the climate doesn’t allow for that.”
EBN is experiencing increasing pressure to purchase food for it hamper program. In 2019, EBN spent $6,000 on food to supplement donations, said Bowman. In 2024, that more than tripled with EBN having to spend $20,000 on food.
In Gimli, Bowman said EBN is seeing the “household” model change. People using the food bank used to be a family unit. Now they’re seeing strangers sharing a single residence. That means a single food hamper for a family has now become multiple single hampers.
And to help control food bank costs and make the most of the purchased food and donations EBN gets, Bowman said the food bank is considering moving to a new food-delivery model called the choice model after research studies indicated cost savings to food banks.
“Instead of filling a hamper with a set list of food items, people would have an opportunity to select things they want and not take things they don’t want. It’s not quite a full shopping model, but it gives people more choice,” said Bowman. “This would give our clients more autonomy. It’s also an opportunity for them to say they have enough, say, pasta from the last hamper and they don’t need it again in a new hamper.”
EBN is also responding to special dietary requirements and preferences to meet the needs of people with diabetes or people with certain cultural food preferences.
Although Bowman said EBN is 99 per cent compliant with national food bank standards from Food Banks Canada, she’s working towards ensuring EBN is consistent with the national charitable organization’s standards.
Food banks across the country are experiencing “record high demand,” according to Food Banks Canada. Some food banks ran out of food in the past year and others had to cut back on the amount of food they were supplying.
Bowman said EBN receives a lot of support from the municipality and she thanked council for that support.
The months after Christmas are traditionally lean times in terms of donations to food banks. But EBN was taken aback by a number of sizable donations.
“We were just at the Crown Royal [Diageo] event [on March 26] and that was totally amazing and awesome and totally unexpected. They gave us lots of food. They partnered with Harvest Manitoba … to support the food bank. Harvest came to Gimli with food to support EBN’s clients in the RM and surrounding areas,” said Bowman. “I was expecting half a dozen bags, but they had a cube truck full of food all boxed up. I woke up this morning trying to absorb it all. There were 378 boxes of food, another three pallets of food plus about a dozen shopping bags full of food that local people had brought to the event. It was totally amazing and we are so thankful.”
In addition to Diageo, the Gimli Sobey’s store donated to EBN over $8,000 worth of gift cards last week from its Joy of Giving holiday campaign. And the Gimli Red River Co-op store had given EBN $2,000 worth of gift cards around the end of January. The gift cards are distributed to food bank clients.
“We have a whole lot of food to put onto our shelves, which we are so thankful for,” said Bowman. “We were discussing putting another food order in. Now, I’m sure we won’t have to put in another food order for a couple of months.”
Given the uncertainty of the political situation in the United States and the impact tariffs could have on the cost of living and Canada’s economy, Bowman said EBN “appreciates and values” the relationships it has with the community and donors and will continue to focus on creating positive experiences for clients.
“I’m always amazed by the support we get from this community and the surrounding communities when we need help,” she said. “I feel so fortunate to work for this organization and I appreciate how people respect and respond to the needs in our community.”
