Saturday, April 27 marks the 16th annual spring Rotary Food drive in Kamloops and the demand on the our Food Bank is stronger than ever.

President and CEO of the Kamloops Food Bank, Bernadette Siracky, says it is always great to see the community step up to help those who are having a difficult time. “It reminds people that there really is a great need here, although the last couple of years we didn’t have to prove that. It’s pretty clear to everybody and we at the Food Bank are honestly a reflection of what’s going on in our greater community. We always reflect issues prior to them even being wide spread over the news, so what we saw last year shocked us.”

This year’s food drive is as important as ever with demand on the our Food Bank is stronger than ever. Last year, there was an 85% increase in the number of people utilizing its services.

“I’ve sort of seen every pattern that has unfolded at the food bank and this is an explosion. In all honesty, we had an 85% increase in usage last year over the year prior. So and and even. You know, our stats are very accurate. We’re tracking every pound of food coming in there and we’re tracking every client and the reasons that they’re coming.”

That hasn’t slowed so far in 2024. Siracky says there were 300 new people who had never used a food bank in the month of March. The month saw 3,777 individuals use their service for a total of around eight-thousand visits “Our staff know this, our volunteers know how busy we are it shocked us. So, we’re just seeing you know what? In my opinion just a tipping point, a perfect storm. We are seeing just an increased number of people who aren’t able to meet their basic needs”

To donate to this weekend’s food drive, Siracky says have your bags of non perishable food out on your porch by 9:00 Saturday morning or donate through their website.