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Some organizations are rethinking how they provide food assistance, as more Albertans turn to food banks amid rising living costs.<\/p>\n
The Fort Saskatchewan Nourishment Centre recently introduced a grocery-shopping model. Clients still register in advance and get the same amount of food, based on family size. But now, people can choose most of the foods they want, instead of receiving pre-packed hampers.<\/p>\n
“Now they get to see all the different types of cereal we have, for example. So if they want Rice Krispies, they can choose Rice Krispies,” Linda Bernicki, the centre’s executive director, told CBC News.<\/p>\n
Frozen foods are still packaged separately because the centre does not yet have the capacity to relocate its freezers into the shopping area.<\/p>\n
The idea stemmed from research conducted by volunteers that looked at successful food banks across Canada, she said. Then, the centre customized the format to meet the needs of its facility and community.<\/p>\n
Staff and volunteers have noticed immediate changes, particularly for clients, Bernicki said.<\/p>\n
“When people are using food banks, they’re at their most vulnerable,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We see more smiles. We see people more relaxed. We see participants interacting more with the volunteers\u2026 We hear so many thank-yous, because they have a choice.”<\/p>\n
The Strathcona Food Bank, meanwhile, is moving in the same direction.<\/p>\n
The organization currently operates a hybrid model, combining standard hampers with a shopping area where clients can choose additional groceries.<\/p>\n
The organization’s hybrid model has produced similar results as in Fort Saskatchewan, said executive director Kathryn Howden, who’s also a registered dietitian.<\/p>\n
“The clients love it,” Howden said. “Of course, anybody would love to have choice of the food that they eat. It’s a basic human need \u2014 and right to want to have some say into what is included in your diet.”<\/p>\n
Enabling people to make decisions about their groceries also restores a sense of control during difficult times, she said.<\/p>\n
The food bank purchased new land for a larger facility in Sherwood Park, just east of Edmonton. It launched a $5 million capital campaign to fund the project last year.<\/p>\n
The new facility, set to open in January, will be called the Nourish Centre \u2014 a rebranding that tries to remove the stigma often associated with food banks, Howden said.<\/p>\n
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Construction continues on the Strathcona Food Bank’s new Nourish Centre, where a full client-choice grocery model, community kitchen and food literacy programs are expected to open next year. (Rick McFadyen, Strathcona Food Bank Capital Projects Chair)<\/p>\n
“It will start normalizing that people sometimes need a hand up in their life,” she said.<\/p>\n
The centre will include a community kitchen, food-literacy programming, cooking classes and space for community partners providing wraparound supports.<\/p>\n
Client-choice reflects shift in food assistance: expert\u00a0<\/p>\n
The move toward client-choice food banks comes as food insecurity continues to rise across Canada. In March 2025, there were nearly 2.2 million visits to food banks nationwide \u2014 a record, according to Food Banks Canada.<\/p>\n
Bernicki, of the Fort Saskachewan Nourishment Centre, said her organization has seen demand double over the past four years, with more first-time clients and families returning after going months without needing help.<\/p>\n
The centre’s Second Servings food recovery program has also seen visits rise by more than 50 per cent, she said.<\/p>\n
The client-choice model reflects a growing recognition that food assistance supports dignity, cultural preferences, dietary needs and better nutrition, said Elizabeth Onyango, a University of Alberta whose research focuses on food security and nutrition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really brings in some level of dignity in the sense that people are not just being pushed to have what they would not end up using,\u201d Onyango said.<\/p>\n
But there remains a need for longer-term solutions beyond emergency food assistance, she said, urging the government to provide adequate funding and resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is more of a temporary solution to immediate needs, ” she said referring to food-bank models. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe main issue that we are dealing with is income, and we need to go to the root cause of food insecurity \u2014 not just giving people donations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Fort Saskatchewan Nourishment Centre and Strathcona Food Bank each say they rely heavily on volunteers and community donations, because they receive no ongoing government operating funding.<\/p>\n
“We encouraged people to donate and volunteer if they can,” said Howden, of the Strathcona Food Bank. “Any support that we can get from the community is vital to us continuing our service.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":842843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48],"class_list":["post-842842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}