The Cortes Island Food Bank recently launched a food drive to meet unprecedented need. Cortes Currents met with two of the charity’s key personal in the garage where most of the food is stored. Executive Director Filipe Figueira explained :
“The situation is getting worse on Cortes. It is the same as across the country. Two years ago, we had 100 client visits a year. This year we had 600, that’s about 50 clients a month. People are really suffering economically. The good news is that we’re in a better situation to help those people. We’ve really built up the capacity of the food bank to deal with this emergency. We’ve got some really good staff and good food, but it’s not a good situation.”
Cortes Currents: I understand that Food Banks Canada has just released their annual hunger count. What are the highlights from that?
Filipe Figueira: “Well, the picture is pretty bleak across the country. They do a count every March and the numbers increased again this year. In March 2024, there were over 2 million visits to food banks in Canada — the highest number in history — representing a 6 per cent increase compared to 2023, and a 90 per cent increase compared to 2019. In addition, there are signs that the food-banking system is reaching its absolute limit.
“The numbers just keep increasing. I think a lot of food banks are really struggling with this pressure. I know that 30% of food banks across the network actually ran out of food before they could serve all clients. At least 33% of all clients across the country are children and a new thing that’s happening is that 18% of food bank users are now employed. They’ve got jobs, but they just haven’t got enough money at the end of the month to buy the food they need to survive. That’s a huge increase. It was historically around 5% to 6% and then it crept up to 10% and now it’s 18%. There’s a lot of economic pressures on people across Canada.
We’ve known about housing for years. We’ve got people who won’t be able to afford to buy their home – ever – but now we’re seeing working people who can’t afford to buy enough food to survive to the end of the month.
It’s a great report. Google Hunger Count 2024. Have a look at the data, it’s really interesting.
Cortes Currents: How can people get food if they want to?
Angelica Raaen responded, “The easiest way and the best way is through our website. Select the location, either Manson’s or the Gorge, and then the day you want to pick up. It’ll ask a few questions about your family size or your household size and your dietary restrictions, if there are any. And then you just book it and we’ll have it ready for you on the day that you booked.
Cortes Currents: Why do people need to pre-book?
Angelica Raaen: “We don’t have a purpose built food bank facility. The food is stored at a private residence, in a garage. We have to go pack the food into hampers and transport them to the pickup locations. This takes a couple of days to prepare, so it’s better if people book in advance.”
“So, the best way to book is through a website with the booking form, but you can also call us or email us if the website is a barrier for you. The phone number is 1-672-202-0052 (it’s a local number) and our email is cortesfoodbank@proton.me.”
Cortes Currents: I see you have a fundraising drive at the moment. How’s it going and how can people donate?
Filipe Figueira: “Yes, we’ve got a couple of fundraisers right now. The main one is what we call our virtual food drive and that’s done through Food Banks BC. They have a portal and people can donate there and get a tax receipt. That’s gone really, really well this year. We haven’t met our target yet, but we’ve got some really nice generous donations. People can reach it through our website and they’ll see a donate page, and there’s a link there.”
“People can also do an e transfer to cortesfoodbank@proton.me and again, that’s on the donate page and really welcome as well.”
“We’re trying to just build up enough reserves to last for the next few years, because we know that the situation is going to get really bad. There’s basically the economic outlook with tariffs coming and geopolitical instability happening, I think we’re going to have more problems in the years to come. So we want to be ready.”
Cortes Currents: If people want to donate food, how can they do that?
Angelica Raaen: “We love food donations. They’re very much welcome and appreciated. The easiest way is probably through the stores, the Cortes Natural Food Co-op and the Gorge Harbor Marina store in Whaletown. There’s boxes there and you can just ask a staff member to point one out to you. If you have a large quantity of food that won’t fit in the box, you can send us an email and we’ll arrange to have it picked up.”
“A good thing to keep in mind is that for health reasons, we can’t accept food that is damaged, open, out of date, home canned, and not in its original packaging, just for safety reasons.”
“Another thing to mention, if you’re wondering whether it’s better to donate food or money, is we have access to affordable food. So for every dollar that you donate, we can buy three and a half dollars worth of food.”
Filipe Figueira: “A lot of people ask us, can they donate out of date foods? That’s a tricky one. I really appreciate that people want to donate, some of that food is great but It’s becoming a problem for us because we get so much food that’s out of date. We have to figure out whether it is safe or not safe, and we just can’t risk the health of clients. For example, last weekend I had to work through 40 cans of dated food, open them, try and dispose of this food in a safe and healthy way. It’s a lot of time consumed that way. So please don’t stop donating food. We really appreciate it, but If it’s out of date, don’t donate.”
Cortes Currents: What are your plans for the future of the food bank?
Filipe Figueira: “We’ve reached a lot of our goals for this year, so that’s great. We’ve got better infrastructure and a lot of food stored to distribute, but long term, we just need a proper purpose built food bank facility on this island. All communities our size have got something like that, but we’re having to transport food hampers to locations for people to pick up, and it’s a lot of work.”
“So long term, like in five years time, we’d love to be in a position to build a facility where we could store the food and then clients could come and pick that up. That would make a lot more sense. Obviously that’s a huge project, but it’s not impossible. We need a piece of land somewhere. We need maybe some very generous donations and funds from infrastructure grants, but that’s all possible. So, if people out there have a bit of land they want to donate to the food bank or a large warehouse or garage area that we can use, that would be really great. They can get in touch.”
“In the short term, because we’re having to deal with so many clients and transport so much food to different pickup points, it’s getting to a point where we can’t fit all this stuff in private vehicles. We’re having to make two or three trips to pick-up locations. So I think we’re going to have to invest in a van that we can use. That’s the short term goal and that’s part of the fundraising drive that we’re doing this year is to get to that position.”
“Other than that, we just want to keep building our financial reserves so we can meet the tsunami that’s coming. We’ve got a very uncertain economic future ahead of us and we just want to be ready for that.”
Cortes Currents: Do you have any last messages you want to give?
Angelica Raaen: “It’s important for us to say to anyone in our community who’s struggling to afford food: don’t hesitate to reach out, we’re here to help. Food is a basic human right and no one should feel embarrassed to ask for help. We have plenty of food to help everyone who needs it.”
“We wanted to thank the people who helped us get this work done. The Food Bank has made tremendous strides this year, and it’s largely thanks to the support of so many people in our community. In particular, we want to thank those very generous individuals who have donated food and funds, especially in these difficult economic times.”
“Thank you for supporting your community. Also a big thanks to the local businesses and agencies who support us. Such as Lane 8, the Cortes Natural Food Co-op, the Gorge Marina Store, Good Libations, Gathering Place, the Prosperity Fund, the Cortes Community Foundation, and the SCCA.”
Filipe Figueira: “We should also thank some of the staff that have been really helping us this year and have really stepped up to make us a much stronger organization. There’s people like Jude Marentette, Isabel Perry, Rebecca Carpenter, Samantha Statton, Bea Baxter, Helen Hall, Angelica Raaen and also thanking everybody else that we’ve forgotten. We’ve really grown so much because of that help that we’ve got. Also thanking the really wonderful clients that we serve. We just wish everybody a really good holiday season.”
Links of Interest:
- Cortes Island Food Bank
- Hunger Count 2024
- Articles about, or mentioning, the Cortes Island Food Bank
All graphs in article courtesy Food Banks Canada Poverty Report Card; All photos by Roy L Hales
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