'Smacks of desperation': Donated baby formula being resold online
Harvest Manitoba is sounding the alarm over concerns baby formula the non-profit donated to those in need is being resold online.
Over the weekend, staff came across Facebook posts advertising formula up for grabs for $40 - despite the boxes marked with “not for resale - Harvest Manitoba.”
The organization says this type of behaviour could be keeping families from accessing formula they need through its First Steps program.
"We help about 700 infants with the baby formula program. They get two boxes of baby formula. They'll get some baby food and some baby pouches, some diapers - just to help them make ends meet so they don't have to purchase the items themselves,” Harvest Manitoba’s director of food and fundraising Colleen McVarish told CTV News Winnipeg in an interview Monday.
To register for the program, people with babies must provide a medical number or the baby's bracelet from the hospital where they were born.
This is the second time in the past year Harvest Manitoba has discovered donated formula up for sale online.
"It just says how hard things are out there, that people are actually having to choose to sell baby formula, and it's become a commodity in our province,” said Kate Kehler, executive director of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg.
Furthermore, she says this is a sign of an already pressing issue in our province --- child poverty.
According to Campaign 2000, a report published yearly, Manitoba has a child poverty rate of 27.2 per cent when it comes to children under six, which is 11 per cent higher than the national average.
Parents struggling to make ends meet are being forced to make tough choices, Kehler said.
"They have enough to tide themselves over until or tide their child over until they are expecting another a bit of money - then that's what they're doing in order to get by,” she said.
That could mean selling leftover formula to pay rent or bills – a move she says smacks of desperation.
McVarish says Harvest Manitoba is here to help anyone in that situation.
"If you're selling this product online and you need assistance, call our food lines and we can help you out."
Meantime, the organization is asking anyone who comes across these posts online to get in touch with them.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.