Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
Locals struggling with inflationary costs and itinerant workers unable to begin picking due to cold weather delays are tapping the food bank in ever greater numbers just as donations shrink.
Brenda Saul, Osoyoos Food Bank Program Coordinator said the Food Bank “has always been well supported by the community and they’ve been very generous. But we’ve seen those donations drop off especially now since everybody is struggling with all the inflation and everything else.”
She highlights that the increase in demand is coming at a time when not only financial donations are shrinking but free food products are also decreasing which means the Food Bank must use scarce financial resources to purchase food.
“Some people have good jobs but just can’t afford food and it’s really hard on the self-esteem. People have to choose between paying for their gas for getting to their job or buying what they need to feed their family,” and the rent situation just makes it that much worse, she added.
Itinerant fruit pickers have also turned to the Food Bank in desperation as cold weather delays to the start of the picking season have left them struggling.
Saul says the situation is “problematic for seasonal workers because there are no cherries to pick, so there are no jobs and no pay.”
Last week on June 16 was the first time “we had numerous people who are itinerant workers,” said Ruth Glover, Osoyoos FoodMesh Program Coordinator.
“We just asked them to wait until everybody from the Osoyoos community was served and whatever was left we allowed them to come in; we told them we would support them,” she added. The workers were grateful and left happy with smiles on their faces Glover said.
Some of the workers are camped out in tents at the Osoyoos Baptist Church (where the Food Bank is located), with the church also offering hot showers and washroom facilities to the workers.
Church Pastor Phil Johnson said the workers come from Chile, Argentina, Spain, Mexico and Quebec. “We offer them a chance to have showers and use our washroom because they have nothing. Some of them are just camping in the orchard and there’s nothing in the orchard,” he said.
To help support the important work of the Food Bank and its related programs – FoodMesh, Backpack and After the Bell programs – the Osoyoos Baptist Church is sponsoring a community garage sale over two consecutive Saturdays – June 25 and July 2 – between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the Curling Rink. All proceeds will go directly to funding these programs.
A key part of the Osoyoos Food Bank’s services is the FoodMesh program which it joined in 2021. The program is a food recovery service which is based out of Vancouver. The program works to connect places that have “commercial food surplus” like grocery stores with organizations that need the food like food banks.
Glover explained that the local grocery stores contact them when they have items of food that are borderline for putting out on the shelf due to rapidly approaching expiry dates or cosmetic imperfections.
“We pick up three times a week and this includes fresh items like fruit, produce and also packaged foods.” These are then distributed two mornings a week, Tuesday and Thursday, and anyone in the community can come and pick up whatever is available. Occasionally there are also bakery items, dairy products and sometimes even frozen meat.
“A lot of the food used to just go into the dumpsters,” noted Brian Rawlings, a member of the Baptist congregation who was instrumental in putting the garage sale together. Anything that’s left and not fit for human consumption goes to farmers who use it as livestock feed, he added.
The two-day-a-week FoodMesh syncs well with Osoyoos’ Food Bank which only operates once a month unlike Oliver’s which is once a week. Johnson explained that the idea behind the once-a-month Food Bank is to provide a hamper of food that is a variety and big enough to do something with.
It helps out individuals and families towards the end of the month when the paycheque is running dry, to help tide them over to the next cheque. People “run out of money before they run out of month,” he added.
In back from left are Brian Rawlings and Pastor Phil Johnson. In front from left are Brenda Saul, Ruth Glover and Diane Rawlings.
Diane Rawlings, the Osoyoos Backpack Program Coordinator explained that for this program the two grocery stores in town donate a certain amount of money – $50 and $25 – each week and the program also dips into the Food Bank to pack food for children that are in need.
“We are aware that there are some issues with food security for some kids on the weekends, so we pack a lot of protein items, cereals, fruit and yogurt and items like that,” she said. Currently, there are eight elementary school kids in the program, although the program is also open to children from age three up to 17.
The After the Bell program is the latest addition and seeks to essentially continue the Backpack program through the summer when children are not in school.
Brian Rawlings explained: “As soon as the kids are out of school we can carry on with the weekends through the summer so that they’re getting the same amount of food each week even when they’re away from school.”
The kids come to the church on FoodMesh days and pick up their bag of food which has been pre-packed to take home. “Some of the items are prepackaged and then we have a certain amount of money that we can add to that like the fruit.”
Rawlings acknowledged that stigma is an issue, but says it seems to have lessened a bit. “But kids are kids and someone’s always gonna give you a rub, but for the most part it’s been accepted and the kids are happy to get home with some stuff they can dig into.”
