Rising food costs affecting Brandon programs

Inflation continues to increase the cost of living throughout Manitoba, and food prices are no exception.

Recent reporting from Statistics Canada show a nearly 10 percent increase in the cost of grocery items in July compared to the same time last year.

“We see groceries not lasting a month, but lasting almost only two weeks, sometimes a little less than,” says Mia Bastien, director of development and operations for The Women’s Resource Centre in Brandon. They have a breakfast program that provides meals to roughly 500 women and children in need each month.

But even with funding through grants, they need more help.

“When we write grants, we’re not anticipating the sharp increase or the trends and patterns, and that’s what we’re running into,” she says. “So that call to the community is a reflection of what we’re feeling and the trends we’re experiencing.”

Another group feeling financial strain is Brandon’s Food for Thought, which runs the Brandon School Division’s breakfast and snack programs, supporting 19 schools between Brandon and Shilo.

“This past year we fed over 132,000 students in those programs”, says Angie Strachan, Food for Thought’s program coordinator. “That is double the number of students the year before. And of course a big contributing factor to that is the food cost.”

“We appreciate their ability to help our students have access to nutrition and food on a daily basis,” says Brandon School Division superintendent Mathew Gustafson, adding that the partnership between BSD and Food for Thought is “very valuable.”

The rising cost of food leaves both groups calling on the community to help their programs operate.

“All of our donations are either monetary or food donations,” says Strachan, “so we rely on businesses, corporations, and individual donations.”

More information on how to donate to either organization can be found on their websites, thewomenscentrebrandon.com and brandonsfoodforthought.com.