How to help food banks this holiday season
They take more than food items — and there's a large need for hygiene products
Dany Hétu says he's worried the food bank he manages, Moisson Rive-Sud in Boucherville, Que., is going to see fewer and fewer donations from businesses in the agro-industry sector as they tighten their budgets and cut down on waste leaving them with less surplus to donate.
"Good idea for the planet, but not so much for our clients," says Hétu.
Moisson Rive-Sud is one of 32 member organizations of the Food Banks of Quebec — CBC's 2023 charity of the year. The moisson is a regional warehouse that supplies 151 local food aid organizations in southwestern Quebec's Montérégie region with stock.
Hétu says financial contributions are always helpful. For every dollar, they can leverage $25 worth of food as well as use the money to fund operations.
"We need trucks, we need drivers, we need people to move food around and we'll eventually need space because this is way too small for us," he says, hinting at the growing demand for food aid in the region.
Martin Munger, the executive director of Food Banks of Quebec, echoes the same sentiment. He says if people want to donate foodstuff, they should bring it directly to their local food bank given that moissons in cities like Montreal usually deal with large-scale donations measured in pallets. Donations can be left at the regional moissons, however.
If you're perusing through your house for items to donate, here are some things to keep in mind.
Can't go wrong with the basics
The executive director of the Centre de bénévolat et moisson Laval food bank, Jean Gagnon, says he's always in need of basic items like canned goods.
Fifteen years ago, it was common for the food bank to receive pallets of canned goods that were dented or mislabelled, but Gagnon says those have become less common as businesses get better at fixing supply chain mistakes.
Other helpful items listed on the Moisson Montreal website include:
- Rice (Or another foodstuff like quinoa, couscous and bulgur).
- Pasta and pasta sauce.
- Oil.
- Cereals and oats.
- Flour.
- Nuts and dried fruits.
- Sugar.
- Peanut or almond butter.
- Coffee.
- Legumes (lentils, beans, chickpeas dried or canned).
- Milk (Only from Grand Pré, almond or soy as they do not require refrigeration).
For business owners in the agriculture and agri-food sector looking to become donors, Hétu says that food diversity is key.
"It's typically feast and famine if I might say in terms of what we might have to offer," he says gesturing to a pallet of canned soups.
"Today [there's] lots of soup, but no vegetables aside from a few potatoes and onions. So, the diversity is not always at the rendez-vous of the needs of the clients we provide food to."
Hygiene products overlooked
Another category that is helpful to food banks are hygiene and baby products like toothpaste, soap, diapers and formula.
Tifanie Brazier, the senior advisor of philanthropic development at Moisson Rive-Sud, says menstrual products in particular tend to fall through the cracks.
Businesses prefer to sell than donate them because of their long shelf life and cost, she explains.
Brazier was made aware that access to menstrual products for some low-income and vulnerable people was difficult after a women's shelter reached out to her during the pandemic; businesses were closing down, shutting off access to washrooms where people could make do with toilet paper while on their period.
Moisson Rive-Sud has since developed a program focused on the recuperation of menstrual products and raised the issue to Food Banks of Quebec. The latter is currently running a fundraising campaign with the Réseau québécois d'action pour la santé des femmes (RQASF), a women's health advocacy group, to buy menstrual products to distribute throughout its network.
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