The Madawaska Valley Food Bank is experiencing high demand for services this holiday season.
President Paul Thompson says the number of people accessing food from its 8 Martin St. location has doubled since pre-pandemic days.
“We were feeding about 45 families before COVID. We just had the foodbank open today, Tuesday, Dec. 6, and we fed 93 families – 230 individuals.”
Thompson says the nature of who’s accessing services has changed too.
“I think we’re seeing more families than we’ve had before. We’ve always had people who are on social assistance or disability. But the newer clients are often families.”
Thompson says he believes inflation and, particularly rising food prices, has led to the increase.
The food bank is open on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, except for December when it’s the first and third Tuesdays. The hours are 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.
106.5 Moose FM will be supporting the Food bank this Friday. Our Spirit of Giving Radiothon takes place at Valu-Mart from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then at Metro from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and we’ll be encouraging donations.