Statement to our Community from the GFB

Written By Coordinator Golden Food Bank

For the last 24 years, the Golden Food Bank Society has worked tirelessly to serve our community. From humble beginnings as a program of Golden Community Resources Society, to formally establishing as an independent society in 2001, we have grown from a modest operation into a multifaceted pillar of support for residents struggling with food insecurity. Over the past decades we have relied on the generous support and partnership of our community. Neighbours helping neighbours is at the heart of what we do, and residents of Golden and Area A have not hesitated to give generously. In the midst of an ongoing affordability crisis and national economic uncertainty, we feel it is important that the wider community understands the trends impacting our services and our citizens, and the ways in which we have adapted to ensure residents of Golden and Area A can continue to rely on us for food support.

In recent years, usage of our Food Bank program has risen to rates never before seen in our history. In 2021, the program supported 224 local households with 1300 hampers. By 2024, this number had risen dramatically to 516 households receiving over 3,000 hampers. More than 650 local seniors, adults, and children came through our doors last year — a number equivalent to 16.5% of the Town of Golden’s population, with an additional 380 anonymous visits. 

The Golden Food Bank does not receive ongoing government funding, nor do we have access to stable core funding. This means we rely on grants and the kindness of neighbours who choose to give. More than doubling our core service capacity in such a short time has only been possible through careful resource management. Our staff and volunteers have worked tirelessly, employing inventive strategies to bridge the gap between donations and demand while diversifying funding and programs for long-term sustainability.

Rapidly escalating demand for emergency food relief is far from isolated to our community, with Food Banks Canada sounding the alarm that food banks across the country are buckling under the strain. The number of visits that households made to food banks in BC has risen by 81% since 2019, and recent data indicates that one in five British Columbians is being impacted by food insecurity. For those that rely on social assistance programs like income assistance and disability, their monthly payments have not kept up with the cost of living. A growing concern is the number of full-time professionals whose wages no longer cover basic groceries. Over a third of those accessing our Food Bank program are employed full time, part time, or seasonally. Local research looking at most recent census data found that less than 60% of residents in Golden and Area A made incomes at or above the Living Wage for our community. Hundreds of new community members seek food assistance from us for the first time every year, signifying a deepening crisis of poverty and unaffordability that is beyond our capacity to address.

A system designed as emergency food for some is increasingly becoming a means to feed many, as poverty and the challenges of living with less become further entrenched.

Our most notable leap came after the pandemic, when the sharp increase in inflation and high costs of living immediately increased demand and reliance on our services. Over the next two years, our Board of Directors decided to dip into reserves to increase the number of hampers per household from one to two per month while also improving the quality of food distributed. Our food budget rose by 262% to support this shift, and we increased it again the following year. Given that we had the resources available at the time, it was the right thing to do. 

While innovation, creativity, and dedication to our mission have been our driving force, there is only so far we can grow. While we hoped the intensity of inflation and high costs of living might ease over time, the crisis has continued and we are no longer working with a surplus of funds. Like any household, the GFB cannot simply out-budget an affordability crisis. Not only have costs for the program continued to increase, but donations have steadily declined. The high cost of food impacts how much we are able to purchase, and sometimes our shelves have been cleared out before everyone had a chance to collect their share. We became concerned that with our food supply spread so thin, those most acutely affected by food insecurity might not be receiving enough food. Following two years of budgetary deficits and no end in sight to the growing number of community members seeking support, the Board again faced a crucial decision-making point.

We needed to adapt services to reflect current funding realities or risk closing our doors. 

By September 2024, we made the difficult transition to revert our base hamper policy to the previous level of one per month. This change ensured the continuity of our services while allowing us to take additional steps to provide more food support for those in greatest need. We continue to provide two hampers per month to a number of our clients and are able to guarantee a full and diverse hamper of items with every visit. We’ve introduced Food Rescue days, which are announced when we have a surplus of recovered food to share once everyone registered at the Food Bank has received a full hamper. This distribution reaches a number of community members who do not otherwise feel comfortable accessing the Food Bank for support, while providing a regular source of fresh food beyond the hamper limits. 

We have introduced a wider range of food access options ranging from free to very affordable. Offering programs on a spectrum allows us to provide more food to more people, sustainably and equitably. Having a cost-recovery component to some programs, such as our affordable meal kits, increases purchasing power while providing subsidized access to good quality, nutritious food for the increasing numbers of people being priced out of the grocery store. Our core program is always there for those who need it, and our other programs in no way take food away. Many people access more than one program, increasing their overall food access, and those who are able to contribute have helped make up for a shortfall in donations. 

While the last few years have been challenging, they have brought lessons and opportunities that have radically shifted our understanding of what is possible when a community comes together.

Together the Town of Golden and CSRD made a significant investment in our organizational stability and purchasing power for 2024-25, and we are in the process of organizing $15k in pre-orders of locally grown/raised produce and meat through the coming growing season that will be distributed to residents through the Food Bank program. In partnership with the food banks in Revelstoke and Sicamous, we are launching a Food Procurement Network to explore sustainable and cost-effective ways to source food collectively. This partnership is intended to increase supply of recovered and affordable food from urban centers, and has the potential to help us increase our monthly hamper policy again in future. We are hopeful that efforts to develop a Poverty Reduction Strategy for Golden and Area will lead to a shared community priority and cross-sectoral partnerships to address the growing impact poverty has on the wellbeing of our community.

Financial donations and strong partnerships are crucial to addressing rising food insecurity and supporting the evolving demographics of those in need. We are grateful to everyone who has donated, volunteered, and supported us in so many ways over the years. If you, like many of us, are not in a position to donate money or food, we encourage you to contact your elected officials at all levels of government and ask them to prioritize affordability measures. We thank our community for its support, and remain humbled by our many friends, volunteers, neighbours, and donors who selflessly help us meet the needs of those who rely on our services. 

To learn more about the growing food insecurity crisis in our communities, we would direct you to the following resources: 

Coordinator Golden Food Bank
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An important update on our Meal Kit program!