Demand rising at Whitehorse food bank

Whitehorse's first full-time food bank is helping more than 1,000 people each month, meaning as many as one in 20 Whitehorse residents are in need of regular food aid.

Officials with the food bank, which officially opened on April 30, say they are stunned by the already high demand for food parcels.

"When we took over from the Salvation Army and Maryhouse, we were thinking 200 to 300 people would use the food bank," Whitehorse Coun. Dave Stockdale told CBC News.

"Right now, we've got as many as 1,200 people a month that are accessing the food bank [and] 600 clients on the books," said Stockdale, who chairs the food bank's fundraising committee.

Currently, each person can claim only one food parcel per month from the food bank, which operates five days a week from its Alexander Street facility. Each parcel contains enough food for three to four days.

The food bank was set up with grants from a variety of agencies, but Stockdale said the facility is also relying on a growing number of support groups, such as churches, service clubs, community groups and individuals.

"This community is wonderful and daily people are coming in donating money and food to the food bank," he said, adding that it's easy for local groups or businesses to organize a food drive.

"You just need to do it once a year for a corporation or an organization, and I think we've got at least 30 groups now that are willing to do this, and add some of the major food drives that we don't even anticipate coming along," he said.

"So we're keeping up, but the food disappears very, very quickly. My wife works there and she says, 'I can't believe how much that food's gone down since last week.'"