‘Never seen anything like this’: Greater Vancouver Food Bank demand skyrockets
So many people need help from the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, the organization said it has never seen so much foot traffic or registered so many new clients.
Calling the situation “unprecedented,” the GVFB is taking-on about 1,000 new people in need a month, more than twice as many as the 400 at this time last year.
“Honestly, we’ve never seen anything like this,” said Cynthia Boulter, chief operating officer, a, adding that while they can still meet the growing demand, they are having some difficult conversations about the future.
“We’ve never had conversations at the Greater Vancouver Food Bank around ‘What’s our ceiling?’ But we are starting to have those conversations."
Climbing interest rates, and the rising cost of food have been driving-up demand as more people struggle to afford the basics.
The organization is also helping refugees from Ukraine, and international students who are finding the money they saved for their education in Canada is now not enough.
Then there are concerns about staffing during the labour crunch; the more people that need help, the more employees the GVFB needs to meet the demand.
“Our goal is to be able to continue to say, 'yes,' and support everyone in need,” assured Boulter. “But there is certainly nothing that we see in the immediate future that says this is going to abate at all.”
The GVFB now hopes that corporate and public generosity will continue.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
One dead, six remain missing as police search for victims of fire in Old Montreal
One person has been confirmed dead and six people remain missing as police continue to search for victims after a fire swept through a building in Old Montreal on Thursday.

Woman suing Tim Hortons for $500K after hot tea spill left her 'disfigured'
An Ontario woman has launched a lawsuit seeking $500,000 from Tim Hortons after she suffered major burns from an alleged ‘superheated’ tea. The company has denied all allegations and said she was ‘the author of her own misfortune.'
5 Connecticut children dead after crash in New York
Five children from Connecticut, ranging in age from 8 to 17, were killed in a fiery early morning crash Sunday on a New York highway, police said.
Poilievre calling for national standardized test to license doctors, nurses trained outside of Canada
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling for a national standardized testing process to be created in order to speed up the licensing process for doctors and nurses who are either immigrants or were trained abroad.
Trails of human bacteria from sneezing and coughing preserved on Mount Everest: study
Even at one of the tallest natural peaks on Earth, humans have left their mark in a trail of bacteria as researchers have found germs from coughing and sneezing that have been potentially preserved for centuries on Mount Everest.
Putin's world just got a lot smaller with the ICC's arrest warrant
President Vladimir Putin always relished his global outings, burnishing his image as one of the big guns running the world but with the International Criminal Court's war crimes charges against him, Putin's world just got smaller.
Possibility of Trump's arrest builds sympathy among his supporters
The possibility that Donald Trump may be charged for allegedly covering up hush money payments to a porn star during his 2016 campaign is garnering sympathy for the Republican former president, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu said on Sunday.
'Who, if not us, should stop them?': The stories of Ukrainian women on the front lines
A Ukrainian charity tells CTVNews.ca how women on the front lines of the war in Ukraine do not have proper equipment and are struggling with the realities of being in a conflict zone. Here are their stories.
North Korea: Latest missile simulated nuclear counterattack
North Korea said Monday it simulated a nuclear attack on South Korea with a ballistic missile launch over the weekend that was its fifth missile demonstration this month to protest the largest joint military exercises in years between the U.S. and South Korea.