Brandon's largest food bank has more users than ever before

It's a place Marilyn Amoitte has relied on for more than two decades and now it's seeing more users than ever before.

Tucked in amongamix of retail businesses, industrial operations and housing in Brandon's downtown, sits Samaritan House Ministries,the city's food bank and emergency shelter.

The service hands out anywhere between 1,400 and 1,600 hampers every month and is a place Amoitte, a grandmother raising two of her grandchildren, knows all too well.

"Things are very expensive now a days," she said. "Sometimes I run out of cereal and I can get cereal for the kids, snacks for them for school lunches."

Sometimes I run out of cereal and I can get cereal for the kids, snacks for them for school lunches.- Marilyn Amoitte

It's abump up to get her through the next few weeks. Something executive director Thea Dennis saidis all too common.

"In our area we have an occupancy rate of 1.1%," Dennis said. "We have a lot of working class people using the food bank. Our rents are high and minimum wage went up to $11 but it's still not enough to pay the high rents.

"They rely on the food bank to supplement their food intake from month to month."

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Samaritan House Ministriesgave out about 500 hampers per month in 2008 half of what is handed out in a typical month today. And 50 per centof those using the food bank in Manitoba's second-largest city are children.

"It would be very hard,"said Amoitte when asked what she would do if Samaritan House wasn't there to serve the community "We do get bread and things like that, other stuff like laundry soap and shampoo.I can come here and get things."

Amoitte first learned of the service in the 1990s after hearing there was a place in Brandon where a person in need could get food hampers. She has also volunteered over the years in the centre's various locations, helping unpack and sort donations.

Samaritan House also recently took over the city's emergency shelter.

"We have a 10-bed shelter that we opened up," she added. "We are seeing 70 per centoccupancy rate every night for the shelter."

Support workers also help create action plans for clients to get into housing of their own.

Numbers startling

"The number obviously is startling," Dennis said."For anybody that works at Samaritan House, it's not just a number.We see their face, we see their impact."

Dennis called it an emotional attachment and said she was proud and honoured to be a part of it. It's an attachment, Dennis said, that started years ago.

"My mom had a shop downtown [in Brandon] and she would have people come in and ask for jobs," said Dennis. "It was how she spoke to them that really impacted me as a kid."

It was how she spoke to them that really impacted me as a kid.- Thea Dennis, Samaritan House Ministries

She was able to work with them, Dennis said.

"It was normal to have these guys come in and shovel sidewalks or clean glass."

Dennis said those experiences have helped her greatly in her job today.

'I'm glad for what they can give'

"Thank you very much," said Amoitte of those who donate to Samaritan House. "I'm glad for what they can give."

Samaritan House relies almost exclusively on donations. The food bank also receives food from Winnipeg Harvest from time to time.

"Every little bit helps," Amoitte said."It's grown and I'm very thankful for it."