Food cupboard program launches as number of Bow Valley residents in need of support ‘astounding’

The community food cupboard located in the Canmore Community Housing office as seen on Friday (June 6). (RMO PHOTO Leah Pelletier)

A community food cupboard pilot program has launched in an effort to provide more food support to residents of the Bow Valley.

Opened to the public on May 26, the project is a collaboration between the Bow Valley Food Bank, Bow Valley Food Alliance (BVFA), Homelessness Society of the Bow Valley (HSBV), the Town of Canmore and Family and Community Support Services (FCSS).

“There’s quite a bit of food insecurity within the Bow Valley, and so the idea is that the community food cupboard is open to anyone in need of additional food resources,” said Jessica Klaric, executive director of HSBV.

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Located in the Canmore Community Housing (CCH) office, the cupboard is stocked with a variety of non-perishables, from pasta to granola bars, canned goods to juice boxes.

“Usually when the cupboard is open, the doors are propped open. You can come in and you’ll see the food cupboard set up,” said Klaric. “Anyone can come in and access the items. We have a stand of brochures and pamphlets for other information.”

The cupboard operates Mondays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Tuesdays 12-4 p.m., Fridays 1-5 p.m. and most Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

While located inside the doors of the CCH office most days, the cupboard is wheeled out to the main hallway on the Saturdays that it’s open.

After consistently reaching capacity with the demand for food support increasing, the Bow Valley Food Bank, alongside FCSS, recognized another solution was needed to meet the needs of the community.

Joining forces with HSBV and BVFA, the like-minded organizations came together to launch the initiative.

“ It’s been an ongoing need that was identified by the different partners involved in the initiative, and so we came together to come up with the community food cupboard idea and create this partnership,” said Klaric.

The food cupboard hours were then designed to offset most of the food bank hours so residents have access to support almost every day of the week, according to Klaric.

“We are only open for folks to pick up two days a week. We have two different time slots, but even still it’s hard for folks that have jobs at different times of the day to manage to get here,” said Cathy Hagan, executive director of the Bow Valley Food Bank.

Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, HSBV offers in-person outreach support alongside the food cupboard, giving residents the opportunity to talk to a team member and get connected with additional resources, according to Klaric.

“ You can also just come in, grab your food items and go. There’s no need to talk to anyone or identify yourself,” she added.

Stocking the cupboard as needed, Hagan said the food bank “will alter the contents based on what people are taking or not taking.”

“The goal is to create more resources, more options for people based on their various circumstances because you can’t anticipate or cover all of them. If this helps fill in some blanks and gaps, we’re happy to bend and mold it until it’s a good fit.”

Partially funded by the Banff Canmore Foundation, the pilot program is set to run until Nov.1 when the four partner organizations will assess the cupboard’s impact in the community and their ability to keep it operational moving forward.

“If all goes well with the food cupboard pilot and we see that it’s filling a significant need, [the hope is] that the cupboard could continue to live on beyond the pilot program and become, hopefully, a staple within the community,” said Klaric.

Food insecurity rising

Involved with the Bow Valley Food Bank for more than two years, Hagan said the organization has experienced a “very high increase” in food-related needs within the community.

“The growth has been astounding,” she said. “When I started, they were maybe seeing three or four families a week or less than 10 individuals, let’s say. We [now] have 36 potential appointments a week and we pretty much book them solid, regularly. That’s from three or four families to 36.”

Historically serving young people or individuals seeking support, Hagan said the food bank is now seeing entire families access their services.

“We do have some families that are really going through some difficult times. Whether they’re folks from Ukraine, we’ve certainly seen those different demographics. The Jasper fires brought some folks to us – it’s hard to pick a story, there’s so many,” said Hagan.

Hagan said many seeking food support are working service jobs and aren’t able to earn a high enough income to keep up with the cost of living in the Bow Valley.

“In order to cover all of their costs, they need some help with the food side of things because I think that’s just the most accessible,” she said.

Still in the early stages of the program launch, Klaric said the food cupboard has already seen use from residents in the first couple weeks of operation.

“If it takes off, we would like to open it up to the community and I think that’s something folks would really be interested in getting involved in and we’ve already had folks say, ‘Can I contribute to the cupboard?” said Hagan.

For more information, additional resources and directions to the food cupboard visit: bowvalleyshelter.ca/community-food-cupboard.