Following the summer of 2020, when Grace provided fresh produce, gift cards, and nutritious lunches to Connaught School families in the Grace parking lot every Thursday, members of the Engagement & Service Committee met with representatives form the Calgary Food Bank with a view to beginning a Satellite Food Bank at Grace Church. A formal Partnership Agreement with the Calgary Food Bank were developed and approved by Session in September, 2020.
On October 1, 2020, Grace Presbyterian Church and the Calgary Food Bank entered a satellite location partnership. The partnership allows Calgary Food Bank emergency hampers to be distributed at Grace Presbyterian Church. This location serves Calgarians in need living in Downtown Calgary and the Beltline areas.
Impact of the Satellite Food Bank
The greatest success of the partnership so far is its ability to serve the needs of the Downtown Core and Beltline. These areas were identified by the Calgary Food Bank as high-needs communities that experience significant levels of food-insecurity.
Since March 2020, Carter Place – another Calgary Food Bank satellite location in downtown Calgary – served as the main distribution point for Downtown Core and Beltline area residents. Carter Place remains closed as it is a seniors’ housing development. Previously, Carter Place experienced significant traffic, distributing over 120 hampers per month between September 2019 to February 2020. The partnership with Grace Presbyterian Church has alleviated and addressed some of the food insecurity issues experienced by the surrounding communities in the Downtown Core. Another beneficial by-product of the satellite location partnership is strengthening Grace Presbyterian Church’s relationship with Connaught School, a nearby Calgary Board of Education K-6 elementary school.
Grace Presbyterian Church already conducts community outreach within the area including Connaught School. When a hamper is not picked up, the information is shared with Grace Presbyterian’s contact at Connaught School. Based on the amount of food/hamper colour, the contact person contacts a family in need of food assistance. The family then picks up the food on Friday at 9:00 am from Grace.
By the Numbers: How the Project is Measured
From October to January, Grace Presbyterian distributed 117 hampers which affected the lives 176 individuals. Grace volunteers served 143 unique clients with seven days worth of food. This resulted in distributing 29 hampers per month.
The Calgary Food Bank’s emergency hampers are divided into colours that signify the number of adults included in the hamper. Below is a table that shows how the Calgary Food Bank classifies the hamper colour and the corresponding number of adults.
Food Bank Clients
Clients served by Grace Presbyterian Church are mainly (96%) living in a single-person or two-to-three persons households. This reflects City of Calgary census data, where majority of households within Downtown Core and Beltline area are either single-person or smaller (2-3 person) family households.
Reducing Travel Time and Costs: Another Key Measurement
Other key metrics for Calgary Food Bank satellite locations are the distance and travel costs savings that clients benefit from by picking hampers in the satellite locations rather than the main warehouse. Satellite locations allow clients to stay within their community to get an emergency food hamper. This prevents hamper distribution from becoming an onerous and cumbersome event for Food Bank clients such as trying to arrange rides with friends or family. Not only are clients’ food needs met, but they also save transportation costs to travelling to the industrial Southeast to pickup a hamper including incurring costly rides for a taxi or Uber or using public transportation which can be time intensive and, in a pandemic, a hazard for some clients. Additionally, clients do not need to take a significant amount of time out of their day travelling to get an emergency hamper. The time saved for clients could be used for more practical or productive purposes.
- Distance saved 1,501 km
- Time saved (hours) 30
- Fuel cost savings $150
Who are Food Bank clients that come to the satellite location at Grace?
- Data shows that Grace’s clients tend to be middle-aged or on older end of the spectrum. Yet there is still a considerable number of youths.
Why the Food Bank?
A caveat in reading the Request Reason and Primary Source of Income data is that the Calgary Food Bank collects the information of the person requesting the hamper. As such there will be instances where a client would identify their situation as Unemployed/Looking for Work while having a Primary Income Source of Wages due to a person (ex. Partner, family member, etc.) in the household as earning a wage.
Part of the Calgary Food Bank intake and hamper request process is to ask clients the reason why the need the help of the Food Bank.
The most common request reasons for clients at Grace are:
- Fixed Government Benefits such as Alberta Income Support (formerly known as Alberta Works) with 29%
- Unemployed/Looking for Work with 27%.
- COVID-19 continues to affect Grace’s client, the combined total of COVID-19 related request reasons amounts to 16%
These reasons include:
- COVID-19
- Laid off
- Self-employed and business closures
- Reduced or no hours
Income and Referrals to Potential Additional Services
The income and expenses of the individual or family is also collected at intake. This data is used to identify trends within the Food Bank’s clientele and is used for advocacy and to determine what appropriate resources and organizations the Food Bank can refer the clients to.
The five most common request reasons for clients at Grace are:
- Wages at 16%
- Social Assistance/Income Support at 15%
- Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) at 14%
- None at 14%
- Employment Insurance at 13%
It should be noted that a hamper request can have multiple income sources, as the data collected is the income and expenses of the entire household, in the last 30 days. The data above showcases the largest income that the individual or family received in the past month.
Thank you to Marlene Doherty for this submission. Marlene is the Program Coordinator and has worked with the staff at the Calgary Food Bank, with Cindy Stephenson as Volunteer Coordinator at Grace, with Grace Operations and Facilities staff, and with all Food Bank Volunteers to develop a system that runs smoothly and efficiently. The program has partnered with the Rotary Club of Calgary West in the recruitment of volunteers, and looks forward to recruiting more community volunteers when COVID-19 protocols allow.
