'We saw panic': Food banks dealing with clients hungry for more than just food

In food banks, March is known as the hunger month a time when donations drop and demand soars. Couple that with the mass layoffs caused by the COVID-19 virusand people rushing togrocery stores, and it was a recipe for chaos.

The food bank in Carbonear found it difficult to get basic necessities like bread and butter. The volunteers managed to weather the storm, but what they discovered along the way was unsettling.

In the middle of it all, they realized muchof their clientele was unfazed.

"For me, it's heartbreaking because for a lot of people we serve, this is their normal," said Kerri Abbott, the chairperson of Society of St. Vince de Paul, which runs the food bank. "Their life hasn't changed."

Food insecurity, loss of income and social isolation are the norm for many people.

Abbott said they were also struck by how the virus amplified those problems for some other clients.

In the first week after pandemic measures hit the province in mid-March, they saw a flood of people who had lost important wages.

"When everything first started to happen we saw panic. We saw an increase. When the layoffs started happening, we saw families coming to us."

They were spending their last paycheques on things like rent and car payments to keep a semblance of normality, not knowing when the next paycheque would come. Then they were turning to the food bank for meals.

After the federal compensation package rolled out, Abbott said the food bank saw fewer families coming through, but more seniors.

The food bank also started doing something new they began calling people to check in on them. It started after they contacted an elderly lady who lived alone, and she began to cry.

"Without us, she has no contact with anyone," Abbott said. "We stayed on the phone with her.So now we've started doing that. We added that to our services. We started reaching out to people and just checking in with them."

Abbott said it's always been common for customers to appreciate the social interaction when they pick up food hampers from the food bank. But she's begun to notice it's the people who stayed quiet who were the most appreciative of a phone call.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is not accepting food donations right now Abbott said she cannot risk passing along the virus through donated food but it is accepting cash donations.

She said it is more important now than ever before.

"This month with COVID, donations just completely plummeted and demand completely skyrocketed," she said.

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