Who uses food banks today? It might not be who you think

Olga Almeida is always surprised by the number of people who require food aid, even after 23 years of working at a food bank in Laval, Que. 

"I knew there were poor people here but I never thought there would be that many in need that they wouldn't be able to pay their bills," she says. 

Lately, she's been encountering more and more first timers. 

"Once in a while you do get a person who just cries and cries because they never thought that it would happen to them," she says. "They feel like it's a losing battle."

All she can do is hand them a shopping cart filled with foodstuff from the Centre de bénévolat et moisson Laval, while reassuring them that bad luck can strike anybody. 

Quebec's minister responsible for social solidarity and community action, Chantal Rouleau, allotted an extra $8 million — on top of the $10 million announced in the province's economic update — to the Food Banks of Quebec, last Thursday, to help it bridge the gap between donation and the growing demand for food aid. 

According to the umbrella organization — CBC's 2023 charity of the year — one in 10 Quebecers rely on food banks every month to make ends meet. Of those, 18.5 per cent have a job and just under 10 per cent receive a pension.

That money will go toward food purchases which are then distributed across Food Banks of Quebec's regional members like Moisson Montreal who in turn distribute the food to smaller organizations like the West Island Assistance Fund (WIAF.) 

Moussa Abdelkerim is the executive director of that non-profit in the Montreal borough of Pierrefonds–Roxboro. He often sees himself in a lot of the clients that drop by; he used to rely on food banks as a newcomer. 

"For us they're ordinary normal people who are going through a situation.… They're not people on the outskirts of society," he says.

"It's not really who everyone might picture in their mind."

Jessica Mahilun and her husband both have full-time jobs, but she says the high cost of living in Canada still means they have to make a trip to their local food bank in Montreal twice a month to help them feed their family of five. 

Mahilun's family is among 585 households registered with the WIAF food bank. More than 100 of them only registered in the last eight months.  

She says she saves about $300 monthly thanks to the WIAF, but that money is immediately poured into covering the $1,800 rent on her apartment, bills and other expenses.