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Calgary food bank for veterans nears ‘crisis’ point, organizers say
As the holiday season grows closer, a food bank for veterans is sending up a signal flare.Marie Blackburn with the Veterans Association Food Bank says there has been an increase in younger families coming in. (Terri Trembath/CBC)As the holiday season grows closer, a Calgary food bank for veterans is sending up a signal flare. “We…
As the holiday season grows closer, a food bank for veterans is sending up a signal flare.
As the holiday season grows closer, a Calgary food bank for veterans is sending up a signal flare.
“We have regular clients, but we're seeing a huge increase in younger families coming in,” said Marie Blackburn with the Veterans Association Food Bank. “There are more veterans coming in, and some are reservists. Whatever the need is, we're just trying to meet that.”
Since opening in October 2018, organizers say they have provided assistance to more than 200 veterans. They've hosted training and weekly dinner meetings and provided a sober living gathering place, among other initiatives.
But demand for their service has grown on a daily basis, Blackburn said, and donations of food and funds haven't kept pace.
“Our veterans have given everything for this country and it's our turn to try and help them out,” Blackburn said. “The crisis is that we understand that people don't have a lot to give anymore. But if everyone pitches in, that's when our shelves get filled.”
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The holiday season poses a particularly difficult challenge, as organizers expect that demand will only continue to peak.
The food bank provides hampers to veterans on a monthly basis, while cash donations that come in help run the organization and help veterans with daily expenses, bills and medical expenses.
“Our funding for the first year was pretty good, but it took a lot of us going to fundraisers,” Blackburn said. “But this is a whole new year now, and we just have to keep up with the numbers that are coming in.”
The volunteer-run Veterans Association Food Bank opened after the Calgary Veterans Food Bank, which was run by the Royal Canadian Legion, shut down in September 2018.
More than just food
Mike Nelson, a veteran himself, volunteers with the food bank. He said working with the organization helped him overcome a dark period in his life.
“I had zero self-worth of being a veteran, even though I would tell you I served,” he said. “If you said to me, ‘Oh, you're a veteran,' I would shut down and walk away. So part of my journey here was a short-term goal given to me by a fellow veteran to get my butt in here to help other veterans.”
Volunteering at the food bank one day, Nelson heard a fellow veteran begin to tell a story that was very familiar to him.
“I got upset inside because that was my story. There were only two of us in this story. And it took me a few minutes to piece it together,” Nelson said. “And it's just a silly story about a tow truck with bad brakes.
“But that was the man sitting in front of me, and I had wondered what had happened to him. He was sitting right in front of me.”
Developing such connections is part of what makes the food bank so essential, Nelson said.
“There's that stigma of, ‘Oh, it's a food bank,'” Nelson said. “But I've been honoured by veterans who, after meals, will ask me if I will stay because they need to talk. And I haven't left until midnight sometimes.”
While the food is important, Nelson said, it's that connection that sustains —something that was communicated to him on his first day.
“I tell others what I was told by a fellow veteran. ‘We've got you now. We're not going to let you go. You're home,'” he said. “It meant the world to me. It still does, right now.”
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