By Tommy Osborne

Salvation Army 2024

Despite strong community support, 2024 still challenging for Salvation Army, food banks

Dec 31, 2024 | 3:11 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – 2024 was an up and down year for local food banks like the Salvation Army, as record breaking fundraisers and strong community support played a big role in helping those in need, but at the same time rising costs and tighter budgets continued to put stress on the Salvation Army and other organizations.

“It was a little bit challenging. Obviously demands are higher, and then at the same time our expenses go up because expenses have gone up. And then other people’s donations and the donors and such, their expenses have gone up. So it’s tighter for them as well. I understand, I don’t have as much to give as I wish I would, but that’s just that cycle,” said the Salvation Army’s Community Ministries Director Roy Law.

“It’s just one of those perfect storms,” Law continued.

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The end of 2024 did see some economic positives, as the key interest rate has steadily dropped since May, going from 5% to 3.25% in December. Inflation also sits at 1.9% as of November, just below the Bank of Canada’s 2% goal. While promising, Law worries things may not get much better for food banks in 2025.

“I don’t see a whole lot of change happening in the next year. Maybe even tighter,” he said.

While the Christmas season usually sees high demand, Law says January to March is actually when demand is highest. It won’t be easy, but Law is confident the Salvation Army will get through it thanks to the hard work of the volunteers and the generosity of Prince George.

“We sometimes just have to live it day by day and try and make that happen. But we do try and do our best budgeting and thinking how we can think ahead and watch the trends and just be a little bit prepared to try and put a little bit of that cushion in the bank there for us to help us for those days that are lower,” he said.

“We’re always thankful for Prince George and the community, you guys give from the heart and I’m thankful to Prince George. I would not want to live somewhere else, I love the community, the tightness of it, and Prince George will accomplish this and we’ll continue to feed the hungry.”

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