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Bare shelves at Alberta food banks as demand soars in a “very difficult year”
🇨🇦 Canada /Culture & Society

Bare shelves at Alberta food banks as demand soars in a “very difficult year”

From Global News · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Food Banks Alberta says its warehouse shelves are unusually bare as demand for food assistance rises ahead of the holiday season.
  • The organization distributed 3.36 million pounds of food across Alberta in 2025 and sent out nearly 90 per cent of that volume in the first six months of this year.
  • Alberta recorded more than 210,000 average monthly food bank visits in 2025, while Food Banks Alberta says it lacks about 350 pallets of products for September.

Food Banks Alberta says it has reached a level of scarcity it has never seen before, with rows of warehouse shelves standing empty as demand rises across the province.

This is the first time that we’ve encountered this level of scarcity within our warehouse.

— Darryl BurryThe executive director of Food Banks Alberta described the organization’s unusually low inventories.

The organization supplies 112 member food banks. Its warehouse normally holds pallets of donated food and other products stacked high, but donations have not kept pace with shipments. Executive director Darryl Burry said the association is short about 350 pallets for September.

Food Banks Alberta distributed 3.36 million pounds of food across the province in 2025. Demand increased so sharply this year that nearly 90 per cent of that annual volume had already gone out during the first six months, before the busiest months arrived. In August, shipments were 32.8 per cent higher than in August 2025.

Our goal here is to receive the donations of products that come from many corporate sponsors and supporters, and then we distribute that out to our network of food banks.

— Darryl BurryBurry explained how the provincial warehouse supports local food banks.

Figures from Food Bank Canada’s 2025 HungerCount showed more than 210,000 average monthly food bank visits in Alberta, a nearly 22 per cent increase from 2024. Burry said many visitors are working people and families struggling to make ends meet, including neighbours, co-workers and children attending school together.

Most of the people walking through our members’ doors are working people and families trying to make ends meet. They are our neighbours, our co-workers and the children sitting beside our children at school.

— Darryl BurryHe described the people seeking assistance from Alberta food banks.

Edmonton’s Food Bank is seeing the same pressure. It supports more than 43,000 people each month through its hamper program, and communications coordinator Haley Grinder said demand continues to rise. Food Banks Alberta expects the province’s 2026 HungerCount figures, due in October, to show another significant increase.

We’ve got about 350 pallets worth of product that we are short for the coming month of September.

— Darryl BurryBurry quantified the immediate supply shortfall facing Food Banks Alberta.
About this summary

Originally published by Global News in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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