'Needing help is scary,' says small business owner who is fighting stigma around using food banks
CBC
Miranda Mirlycourtois, 34, looks directly at the camera and makes a confession.
"I am one of the tens of thousands of Manitobans that has accessed a food bank through Harvest Manitoba this past year," she says in a video posted to the Instagram account for Tan Mommy Glow Co., her small spray-tan business in Winnipeg.
In the video, she goes on to encourage her customers to donate a non-perishable item to Harvest — items that could theoretically end up back on her table.
She says she wanted to make it to show others who the food bank network's users really are.
"I said, 'What if I just shared it one time,'" Mirlycourtois told CBC. "What if I made … [a video to say], 'Hey, a Harvest recipient looks like me.'"
Mirlycourtois, a single mother to a 10-year-old daughter, got her first food hamper from Harvest Manitoba eight years ago.
"I felt relief, honestly — that was the biggest feeling…. Things have changed over the years, but back then it was like, this is a lot of food. This will definitely get us by."
According to Harvest Manitoba’s 2025 Voices report — an annual report that looks at who is relying on the non-profit's food banks — up to 60,000 Manitobans access a food bank each month.
Mirlycourtois knew that was an option for her family, because she remembers her mother getting food from Harvest around Christmas time.
"She was a stay-at-home mom, and then when she was a single mom, I saw it, because I was 14 at the time. She was always open with us. We always knew."
While she doesn’t need to pick up a hamper every month, Mirlycourtois says the rising cost of living is stretching her budget.
"It’s almost like anger. Because it’s so unfair that we’re all working full-time jobs. We’re doing our absolute best," she said.
"And then sometimes I feel like it’s almost like anxiety around grocery shopping. I’ll put everything [in my cart], and then I’m taking things out."
According to Harvest's annual report, Mirlycourtois's experience isn't unique.
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