Erin Katerynych gets into the giving spirit. (Julia Lovett-Squires/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

Giving Tuesday

‘Share the Joy’: Giving Tuesday kicks off donation effort for SK food banks including in Battlefords and ML

Dec 3, 2024 | 3:22 PM

The seemingly never-ending need for the food bank has Erin Katerynych frustrated.

“I’ve been here 20 years now, so I’ve seen some of these people grow up and have kids of their own and see the same thing happening,” said the executive director of the Battlefords District Food and Resource Centre.

“That’s what keeps me here though is the kids… it’s not their fault that they were born into the situations that they’re born into.”

As of this writing, there are 185 families registered for the local Empty Stocking Fund, which translates to 553 individuals, marking a 25 per cent increase overall compared to last yaer.

“We were quite surprised last week,” Katerynych said of the initial few days.

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“We were busy, pretty steady all week, which we’re not usually for the first week.”

Katerynych attributed that not just the cost of living and inflation and said that for those who are on social services, the $945 a month doesn’t leave much room for rent in the Battlefords, which can be upwards of over $800 for a single bedroom apartment.

“We’ve seen an increase all year though, like we’re over 100 people more in a month than we were the previous year so, we were expecting to be more busy this Christmas.”

To help encourage donors to give to local food banks, the provincial body that oversees them – Food Banks of Saskatchewan – is once again hosting an event dubbed ‘Feeding Holiday Cheer’ that kicks off on Giving Tuesday (Dec. 3) and will run until Dec. 31 with the goal to raise $2 million. Nutrien is the lead donor with a commitment to give $250,000 for the effort.

“Giving Tuesday is known as the world’s largest generosity movement – a day when Canadians are encouraged to give back to charities and non-profit organizations,” she said.

Katerynych explained they began their campaign in mid-November and are trying to raise funds that will help the food bank not just at Christmas, but all 365 days of the year.

Last year, the organization received $23, 457.50 from the Christmas campaign.

According to the 2024 Hunger Report issued by Feed Ontario earlier this week, 40 per cent of food banks in the province have cut services due to lack of resources. This includes reducing food other “wrap-around” services and like everywhere else, is blaming “inadequate government support programs” and affordability.

According to the report, just over 1 million people used an Ontario food bank between April 2023 and March 2024 – that’s nearly the entire population of Saskatchewan. In Meadow Lake, Delton Sylvain, executive director for Meadow Lake Outreach Ministries (MLOM) said the need has also increased.

“It’s going up drastically,” he said.

According to the MLOM 2023 report, they handed out 2,816 food hampers to families and individuals in need and 18,478 adults were served at the Door of Hope Soup Kitchen.

“We are fighting as much as we can to meet people’s expectations to help the neediest people in our community. It’s been a challenge,” he said.

While other food banks have been forced to cut back their services, Sylvain said his team found other ways to ensure their hampers stayed the same.

“We have a lot of people that are taking money from their own pockets, including the staff in this case,” he said of his frontline staff who know the need.

“We see how people try to change their lifestyles, but they cannot lack those basic resources, which is shelter, education, health and food security.”

Meanwhile, in the Battlefords the food bank and resource centre serves over 2,100 clients a month. This number represents people from all socioeconomic backgrounds and age ranges.

Fifty per cent are children, 30 per cent are people with disabilities, and 12 per cent are seniors.

“In previous years, when I’ve done the hampers some of the stories are really sad,” Katerynych said.

In one case, a wife was unable to work due to her husband’s severe and uncontrolled epilepsy, which left her as the sole caregiver for their young children.

“We see a lot of people at Christmas time who do not use the food bank a lot that come in just for Christmas,” she said.

This year, like in years prior, Katerynych wants people to help “share the joy” as the food bank serves 11 per cent of the population every month.

“Just the amount that it costs to live right now without all the extras, it’s a struggle for a lot of people.”

There are multiple events happening in the upcoming days to help raise funds, food and more for the food bank. To learn more, visit their Facebook page website.

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: juleslovett@bsky.social