The approximately 400 people who rely on the Squamish Food Bank to make ends meet are going to have to make do with a lot less in the coming weeks unless the community steps forward with donations of food and money — pronto.

“We're going to have to close down if we don't get some help real soon,” Susan Newman, president of the Squamish Food Bank Society (SFBS), said on Monday (Aug. 20).

The approximately 400 people who rely on the Squamish Food Bank to make ends meet are going to have to make do with a lot less in the coming weeks unless the community steps forward with donations of food and money — pronto.

“We're going to have to close down if we don't get some help real soon,” Susan Newman, president of the Squamish Food Bank Society (SFBS), said on Monday (Aug. 20).

The food bank regularly serves around 100 individuals and families with distributions every two weeks. But the cash — it costs about $1,500 to buy milk, eggs, fruit and vegetables before each distribution — has run out, and the cupboards at the society's storage facility are almost bare.

Unless the number and amount of donations increases soon, “right now [clients] will get whatever I can scrape together, which isn't much” at the next food bank distribution on Sept. 5, Newman said.

The SFBS annually receives $10,000 through the District of Squamish's Community Enhancement Grant program, which pays for about four months' worth of food purchases, Newman said. The Whistler Blackcomb Foundation also is a regular contributor, and this year Squamish Toyota donated $2,000, she said. Private donations are needed to cover the rest of the year, she said.

Those donations have been minimal in recent months, Newman said, adding that while it's always a struggle, the problem seems particularly acute at the moment.

“We've been going month to month for quite a while but we've never gotten to this point,” she said.

The number of food bank clients has increased since the Sea to Sky Highway Improvement Project was completed in about 2008, when those jobs left town, she said. For the past several months the number of “units” — food boxes meant to serve individuals and families — has fluctuated at between 90 and 110 per distribution, Newman said.

SFBS volunteers are planning a fundraising hot dog sale outside Save-On Foods on Saturday (Aug. 25) from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Customers at the store may also make donations of as little as $2 on top of their grocery bills, and may place food items in the food bank drop boxes at all three grocery stores.

While donations at the in-store drop boxes “aren't doing too bad” in terms of the amount of food coming in, there's a shortage of certain items including pasta and sauce, boxed macaroni-and-cheese, canned veggies, canned fruit, pork and beans, cereal and the like, Newman said.

As well, cheques made out to the Squamish Food Bank may be mailed to P.O. Box 207, Garibaldi Highlands, BC V0N 1T0. Tax receipts will be provided to those who donate $20 or more, she said.