Our primary focus is to respect the dignity of our clients. Each client is presented with a list of available food items from which they are allowed to make choices. A “personal shopper” will find and bag the chosen items on their behalf. In most food banks, clients are presented with a hamper of food chosen for them.
Who are these people, our clients?
They are our neighbours. They could be former classmates or colleagues or even family members. With only the slightest twist of fate – an accident, a debilitating illness, or an unexpected financial disaster – they could even be one of us!
Most of us know them as “the working poor.” Most have some kind of home; however, the rent for that home consumes most of their available income. Sometimes, people do not tend to think of food bank clients as individuals, let alone being people just like us.
At the Food Bank at St. John’s, we have come to see them simply as people who need help.