'It's tricky': Winnipeg Harvest trying out new system for food hampers during pandemic

Winnipeg Harvest is shifting how it gives out hampers to its clients during the COVID-19 pandemic, because it expects the number of Manitoba food bank users to go up 30 per cent by the end of the month.

"It's a bit tricky, it's a different system," said Keren Taylor-Hughes, CEO of Winnipeg Harvest.

The food bank normally feeds 70,000 Manitobans every month, but since the pandemic hit, the organization expects to see around 90,000 people come looking for food.

That's why Harvest is only allowing people to pick up hampers once a month, instead of the usual twice a month.The hampers arebigger, and should help supplement a family's food supply for 10 to 14 days should they need to self-isolate.

The food bank is also on a new four-week cycle. Clients who pick up hampers regularly can pick up during the first two weeks of the cycle. This leaves the last two weeks for people who are newly laid off due to the pandemic and might be accessing the food bank for the first time.

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Food donations down 80 per cent, says Harvest

Taylor-Hughes said these changes are due to several reasons, including the fact that the food bank is doing something it's never had to do before buy food.

Normally, Winnipeg Harvest relies on private food donations and larger deliveries from corporate grocery stores and partners.

But since COVID-19 caused "rampant consumerism"in Manitoba, Taylor-Hughes said those partners can't donate anything because they're trying to supply their own stores. In all, Taylor-Hughes estimates food donations have gone down 80 per cent since the pandemic hit.

To keep its warehouse stocked, Harvest ordered a massive amount of food from wholesalers in Ontario days after the first COVID-19 case was reported in Manitoba. That food only just arrived, however, this past week.

"It's the worst time to purchase food in bulk because grocery stores are also trying to purchase food in bulk because they're trying to keep up with demand," said Taylor-Hughes. "So it's kind of the perfect storm, it's quite challenging."

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Monthly hampers 'not enough to survive'

But some food bank users say they're worried getting a hamper once a month won't be enough.

Rina Hermkens has used the food bank since she was young, and has been a volunteer there for about seven years.

The last time she picked up her hamper on March 22, she said she received less than what she normally gets.

"I got nothing for my pets, no feminine hygiene products. Usually we'll have garbage bags or laundry soap, nothing like that this time," said Hermkens.

Hermkens said she knows how to stretch out what she gets from Winnipeg Harvest, and will do that untilthe next hamper she picks up on April 22, but she's unsure how she'll be able to make the food last an entire month, even if it's bigger.

"It's not enough to survive off of," she said.

Taylor-Hughes said the cut-down hampers given out during the first few weeks of the pandemic were due to the supply chain demand. But she saidthe warehouse "looks better than it did two weeks ago," and that there will be more food available the next time peopleget a hamper.

"I know some clients find that very frustrating, but when those ones come back from weeks one and two, now that we've got some food in the door, they'll be happy to see that we've been able to provide more for them."

Three Harvest employees laid off

Taylor-Hughes said the food bank had to lay off three employees who worked in school and business programs because those places are no longer open. She said the organization made the decision, even though they recently came into more than $500,000 in donations, partly from the Winnipeg Jets.

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"We try to be completely transparent with our donors. If they say this is for COVID response, and we want you to purchase food, that's what we do," she said.

"But we're also unionized, we can't just shift people into different roles. There's a process.We worked with our union and went through that process and all three of them understand."

Taylor-Hughes said she's unsure of how much federal money Winnipeg Harvest will get from Justin Trudeau's announcement of $100 million to food banks, or when that money will flow in.

The increase in food bank users could extend well beyond the pandemic, said Taylor-Hughes, so these changes to the food bank are just the beginning.

"We learned from the recession we had in Manitoba years ago, people came to use the food bank, and some of them never left," she said.