Imagine walking into a store, picking out all your groceries for the week and not having to worry about facing an expensive bill at the checkout.
For clients of the Regina Food Bank, that will soon be a reality.
Since the pandemic, there has been a spike in food bank users across the country, up 25 per cent in Regina alone. One in eight families — and one in four children — are now food insecure in the city. Of the 16,000 monthly clients, 44 per cent are kids.
The new Regina Food Bank Community Food Hub, modelled after a traditional grocery store, is set to open this summer in the former government liquor store location downtown.
Sorry but this model of foodbank was roughly over 70% the norm in most places prior to covid because it cuts down on wasted food (i.e. the hamper box system distributes a lot of food people either don’t, or won’t eat). Post-covid most banks had to go back to the hamper model to limit exposure to the sorting and storage areas.
I’ve both volunteered and worked at, as well as drawn from, several food banks. Idk if sask is just decades behind or what’s going on with this article but, no.
Sask is, in fact, quite far behind.