Price of life showing up in foodbank stats

BY SARA KEDDY

Kings County Register

Getting a better handle on stats and finances was one reason behind a two-month delay for the Berwick Foodbank’s annual meeting.

Tracking those numbers better is important, too, as the need for help continues in the local community.

“Single people - that’s our greatest number of people we help: a 24.4 per cent increase from last year,” said organization statistician Anne Drummond at the AGM January 20.

“Couples are up, too: 215.7 per cent over last year. A lot of these are working poor, and we don’t see them a lot of the year.”

She said, with the price of furnace oil and the cost of living, lower-income individuals and couples are having to turn to community support more often.

The good news: fewer children were counted in numbers taken from Nov. 1, 2006 through Oct. 31, 2007. Children under 18 totalled an average of 92 per month - 1,105 through the year; those over 18 living at home went down 38 per cent, to an average of five visitors per month - 60 through the year.

Foodbanks around the province track their visitors and submit data to Feed Nova Scotia, which keeps a database and provides better information back to member foodbanks. Foodbank visitors are supposed to wait one month between visits.

“FNS reports back to us what clients went where, so we’ll know and can ask some questions the next time they come,” said out-going chairwoman Beth Easson.

“If we don’t, we won’t be here next time for the people who do need us.”

The foodbank had better communications, too, through the recent Christmas campaign to provide food to local families. Working with local Lions’ clubs and Friendly Neighbours cut down on duplicated requests for help; the Berwick Foodbank still prepared 64 of its own Christmas boxes, mostly given to single people.

Easson said 2007 was a good year for the organization, after a shaky end to 2006, a move for the facility and a large turnover on the board of directors.

“We’ve turned a corner - a big one,” she aid. “Thanks to the volunteers - I don’t know where we’d be without them. It’s a nice feeling to know it’s being taken care of, people are having fun helping and they are there because they want to be doing something good for the community.”

Food facts

• 86 people volunteer with the Berwick Foodbank, 20 of them regularly

• Monetary donations through November and December 2007 were down ($8,025) compared to the same months in 2006 ($9,708)

• The foodbank finished the period with $4,929.60 on hand, and a $30,768.34 investment. It spent $2,464.20 on food purchases, beyond food and in-kind donations

• The new board includes: Rita Shay, Anne Drummond, Judy Holleman, Joan Balcom, Agnes Dugan, Phillip Taylor, Jim Norton, John Roefs, Marianne Franey, Joan Sanford, Kaye Walker, Katherine Ashley, Florence Carter