Families and individuals having trouble making ends meet may need to occasionally rely on the help off the local food bank to supplement their meal plans.

Jennifer Lorinczy is Community Ministries Co-Ordinator with the Weyburn Salvation Army. Every year, the local food bank receives a large donation from Farm Credit Canada.

FCC recently, in fact, presented the Salvation Army with a collection of food bank donations totaling 16, 610 meals.

“They take all the poundage of food and all the monetary donations that come in, and it gets converted into meals,” explained Lorinczy.

She said the FCC raises funds and collects food items all throughout the year.

“They do it all year long, out of the Weyburn office, which is super cool,” she expressed.

In the spring the FCC held a barbecue and in the fall, they conducted the Fill the Bucket campaign, parking a tractor outside of the Wholesale Club for patrons to fill up with groceries.

Weyburn Red Wings helped to unload and sort the FCC's food bank donations into the various bins at the Salvation Army earlier this month (photo courtesy of Jennifer Lorinczy).

The food bank shelves are stocked for now, but Lorinczy said that by the new year, they will need to completely restock them again. Between the regular food bank requirements and the upcoming Christmas hampers, which take care of a lot of families and individuals, the supply is still not endless.

Lorinczy noted the average family of four receives roughly 100 pounds of food from the food bank with a supplementary food hamper. This equates to around 20 meals.

“Each food hamper roughly would be almost for a mid-sized family of four, you’re probably looking at 100 pounds of food you’re getting,” she said. “So, that’s a significant amount, and it’s just meant to help you kind of fill the gap between paydays or whatever’s happening in your life, a really big expense came up.”

She said the food bank is there for helping families and individuals take some of the pressure off of making ends meet.

“We’re not going to provide your full month’s groceries,” she said. “We would love to, but we just can’t. So we’re just going to help you in those in-between times, or those extreme times where something happens and you need a little bit of help. So we’re able to do that because of things like the FCC and all the different food drives.”

To support the local Salvation Army Food Bank, food donations can be made at any of the three local grocers, which all have bins near the tills. Lists of the kinds of food are also provided, including tetra-pack juices, canned fruits, beans, meats, sauces and other non-perishables. Cash donations can be made directly to the Salvation Army at 130 Fourth Street or by calling 306-842-2280.