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By Derek Cornet

hunger

Lac La Ronge Food Bank usage fluctuated in 2025

Jan 15, 2026 | 5:00 PM

Board members of the Lac La Ronge Food Bank are looking forward to what they can achieve in 2026 after hiring a manager back in September.

“The food bank manager is going to look after the operations of the food bank …as in finding volunteers, training volunteers, making sure all the pieces happen with the new volunteers and old volunteers and scheduling them, ordering groceries, ensuring the groceries are delivered or picked up and all that kind of stuff,” said chairperson Cheryl Norgaard, noting they hope the new manager, Rhonda Oliver, will begin educating the public and attending meetings to talk about the work the food bank is doing.

As for 2025, Norgaard explained it was a good year and that usage of the food bank fluctuated. While there were some weeks when they hit their limit of 45 hampers, other weeks were rather slow.

“There has been lots of money that’s been out in the community over the last year, so sometimes we are busy and sometimes we are not, which is kind of wonderful. It means we are being used when we are needed and not used when we are not needed,” she added.

“Certain weeks, we are turning people away because we hit our max, and that’s very unfortunate, but overall I think things are going very well.”

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Also in 2025, the board of the food bank started looking closer at what is going into the food hampers. The decision was made to do so after it was discovered cases of scurvy were being discovered among local community residents. Earlier this month, a nutritionist also examined a food hamper to provide advice on what can be improved upon.

Ways to make a donation to the Lac La Ronge Food Bank. (Lac La Ronge Food Bank/Facebook)

“I think our hampers are fairly nutritious. We purchase fresh potatoes, carrots, onions, apples, and oranges all year around now. We used to switch to frozen vegetables in the winter, but we are finding we can manage to keep doing that,” Norgaard said.

“If we are purchasing food for the food bank, we are making sure it is as nutritious as it can be. Some of the things that go into hampers aren’t as nutritious, but they have been donated, or we get a food share from like Food Banks of Saskatchewan. Sometimes those have items we would never purchase.”

For January and February, Norgaard mentioned food bank users will notice more items in their hamper. She said that’s because many people struggle more after the holiday season and need a little boost to help make it by.

Those who would like to donate to the food bank can do so via one of the methods listed above. If residents want to donate food items, the most needed items are canned fish or meat, pork and beans, peanut butter, macaroni or rice, canned soups, one liter juices, kids applesauce, tinned tomatoes or pasta sauce, granola bars and cooking oil.

Residents can call 1-306-425-9244 to arrange a drop off.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com