Chef Mohair Chand, left, oversees the making of samosas in the kitchen of EthniCity Catering, which is a fully operational catering company and cafe that trains newcomers in the working kitchen and helps them find employment afterwards in Calgary, on Dec. 2.TODD KOROL/The Globe and Mail
More and more Canadians anticipate needing help to meet basic needs such as food and clothing this winter – and numbers are particularly high in Alberta, a recent survey finds. According to a November poll conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of Canada Helps, 30 per cent of people in the province expected to turn to charities for essential services in the next six months. That’s the highest percentage of any province or territory.
Inflation, higher interest rates and the war in Ukraine are driving up the cost of living – but it’s not just individuals feeling the pinch. The very charities people are turning to are also affected, just as they’re needed the most.
Here’s how two Calgary charities trying to feed their communities are faring.
Centre For Newcomers
Food plays a substantial role in the support Centre For Newcomers provides to newcomers from around the world who arrive with little-to-no resources.
And a recent influx of refugees has forced the charity to make changes, says Katie Pato, the charity’s vice-president of career services.
“With multiple crises happening at the same time, we’ve seen waves of newcomers from Afghanistan and Ukraine and we’ve adapted our services in response,” she says. “The need for culturally relevant and appropriate food through hampers and hot meals for those in need is always increasing.”
Entisar Gate, left, from Iraq and Helen Telila from the Philippines make samosas in the kitchen of EthniCity Catering. The business is a fully operational catering company and cafe that trains newcomers in the working kitchen and helps them find employment.TODD KOROL/The Globe and Mail
Centre For Newcomers is also using food to train and employ refugees and immigrants through its EthniCity Catering and café, which opened in northeast Calgary last fall.
The catering menu is vast and touches on a variety of cultures, with items such as beef bourekas (Palestinian), Egyptian-spice falafels, sega wot and injera (Ethiopian), as well as Arabic mujaddara. The catering company’s students are trained through a 12-week program, in hopes of providing them with food service skills they can then use to find work.
“When you order from EthniCity, not only do you get amazing dishes from a variety of different cultures, but you also support a program that offers employment and community connections for newcomers” Ms. Paton says.
“It makes people feel less isolated and more connected to each other. Through our catering and café we’re also building those connections to the broader community and, I believe, creating a more welcoming Calgary.”
But the catering leg of Centre For Newcomers is also wrestling with rising food costs while trying to keep prices fair.
“It’s really important for us to remain an affordable food option, especially because we cater to many other non-profits and community groups who are also on a budget. It’s a fine balance.”
Cooked samosas in the kitchen at EthniCity Catering.TODD KOROL/The Globe and Mail
Community Kitchen Program
Two years ago, in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Community Kitchen Program of Calgary fed about 250,000 people. This year, the charity had already served 410,000 by the beginning of November.
“All our programs deal with food insecurity and therefore the demand to support and offer resources has grown immensely,” says Sundae Nordin, the charity’s chief executive officer.
The need for its services has increased dramatically in recent years, she said, from 250,000 people fed or served in 2020 to 322,000 last year.
One of the charity’s most utilized programs is the Good Food Box, which sees wholesalers in the city provide Community Kitchen Program with perishable foods at a significantly discounted price. These items are then divvied up into grocery boxes and sold for about half of what a shopper would pay at a traditional grocery store.
But those wholesalers are also being hit with increasing costs and low availability of some items, Ms. Nordin said, which has complicated her group’s work.
“It is a struggle to be able to fill our Good Food Boxes and still keep the prices affordable.”
Along with monetary donations, Ms. Nordin said Community Kitchen Program, which has been operating for more than three decades, is consistently in need of volunteers to help execute initiatives throughout the year.
Dan Clapson