Happy holidays from Harvest Manitoba!

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/12/2022 (631 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The holiday season is always a special time of year. Here at Harvest, our warehouse is full each day with staff and volunteers working to fill our orders and meet client needs. The return of our warehouse training programs, following a pause during the pandemic, has added eight new faces to the team during this busy time of year.

More importantly, re-establishing important programs such as employment training helps us to stay in touch with food bank clients and allows us to offer more than just hampers – but to also offer hope. That hope is needed now more than ever, as the number of people turning to food banks grows steadily.

Over 15,000 households across Manitoba were served through our hamper program in the month of November, sadly another record. This level of need in the community also makes it official that Harvest is now serving twice as many households today as we were in 2019. Thanks to the hard work of our staff and volunteers along with the generosity of our donors, we are making this happen. Thank you to the thousands of Manitobans who have been a part of that story this year.

This December, we have also released the second instalment of our Harvest Voices Report. The 2022 report surveyed nearly 400 food bank clients from around the province to learn more about the circumstances that are driving people to food banks. The report, combined with our own client data, outlines some key findings. Most striking of these is that in some ways the face of food-bank clients has changed in the past year as inflation has driven people to seek support in record numbers. One quarter of food bank clients are now people with jobs – a 50 per cent increase in this demographic from just a year earlier.

As the year 2022 draws to a close, I again want to thank all of our donors of funds, food and time for all they have done for Harvest this year. Thanks to the unparalleled generosity of our community we have been able to meet the challenge of unprecedented food demand this year. If you have not yet made your year-end gift, please consider supporting Harvest this holiday season in whatever way you can. If you have already lent your support to Harvest, thank you for your support and let’s keep working together in 2023 to build a healthier future for all where no Manitoban goes hungry.

For more information on Harvest Manitoba and its programs or to donate, visit www.harvestmanitoba.ca, email info@harvestmanitoba.ca or call 204-982-3663.

Did you know that one quarter of food bank clients have jobs? A 50 per cent increase since 2021.