ManitobaBrandon’s largest food bank says it’s seen an alarming increase of people needing hampers. They’ve already provided 600 more than last year and expect community needs to keep increasing. At the same time, Helping Hands soup kitchen says it’s seen a double digit increase in visitors.Non-profits warn food insecurity worsening across BrandonChelsea Kemp · CBC News · Posted: Oct 21, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoThe Samaritan House Ministries Inc. food bank has provided 600 more hampers to households in 2025 compared to last year. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)Brandon’s biggest food bank and soup kitchen are seeing a surge in demand this year, as more residents turn to community supports to help make ends meet.The Samaritan House Ministries Inc. food bank has already provided 14,013 hampers between January and September, an increase of about 600 compared to the same period last year.“That number is quite alarming,” executive director Heather Symbalisty said. “We are looking at all kinds of different ways to help us keep supporting the community.”Samaritan House also provides food kits containing easy-to-use items like bottled water and granola bars that don’t require a kitchen. She said demand for these kits has risen even faster, with the organization projecting 2,226 kits distributed in 2025 — up by nearly 900. Samaritan House Ministries — which runs Brandon’s biggest food bank— executive director Heather Symbalisty says the food bank says the spike in food bank hampers being handed out speaks to the food insecurity being experienced in the city. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)Brandon’s Helping Hands soup kitchen is on track to serve between 50,000 and 51,000 meals in 2025, executive director said Angela Braun. That’s up from 41,033 meals in 2023 and 46,284 meals served in 2024.The spike in demand at both organizations highlights growing food insecurity in the city of 58,000. Symbalisty said the sharp uptick reflects the growing strain from the high cost of living.“Everything’s going up. Utilities are going up, rent is going up, but yet wages are not going up,” she said. “There’s sacrifices that have to be made and lots of times that’s to the grocery store.”DesperationHelping Hands provides lunch five days a week to around 200 to 240 visitors each day. “We’re seeing a lot of new faces,” Braun said. “There are people that will come in for lunch and haven’t eaten in three days because they’re new to the city and they don’t know the resources that are out there.”Alongside the rise in demand, Braun said she’s also seen changes in behaviour she links to mental health struggles, substance use and alcoholism.Brandon’s Helping Hands soup kitchen executive director said Angela Braun says they expect to serve between 12 and 15 per cent more people this year. (Submitted by Angela Braun)Recently the soup kitchen received 17 cases of taco kits — far more than they could use — so they put them out for the public to take. Braun said arguments broke out over them.“There is more of a desperation,” Braun said. “This is becoming typical for anything extra that gets put out.”While demand continues to grow, Braun said, she doesn’t expect to see the level of desperation decline soon unless there are significant changes to funding. The soup kitchen receives funding from the City of Brandon, United Way, and donations, but no provincial or federal funding.The funding changes Braun hopes for can’t stop at non-profits — provincial and federal programs like EIA also need improvement to make a lasting difference, she said.While inflation has raised costs at the soup kitchen, they’ve been somewhat insulated because most food comes from donations, and community support has grown, Braun said.“People around Westman and area … are realizing the desperation and how much food insecurity there really is out there and have really stepped up to help out.”Western Manitoba’s Woman’s Resource Centre senior advocate Lucia Aguilar says their organization has seen a significant increase in people accessing their breakfast drop-in.Running five days a week, the program serves about 25 visitors a day — including women, gender-diverse people and children — and the centre purchases all the food it provides.Western Manitoba’s Woman’s Resource Centre senior advocate Lucia Aguilar says food insecurity puts unfair pressures on families. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)The rising demand highlights growing food insecurity in the community, Aguilar said.“It unfortunately means that people do not have access to healthy food. They do not have access to healthy food items and they do not have access to financial resources to acquire them,” Aguilar said.Food security is about more than just hunger, they said.It’s tied to human dignity and the stress of not being able to provide for one’s family. They expect that stress to only increase as the weather gets colder.“They cannot feed their families that puts an extreme pressure on them,” they said.To ease that burden, Aguilar says more support is needed from the government and business sector to ensure families have constant access to nutritious food and the means to afford it.Prices and needs risingSamaritan House’s costs have risen sharply, Symbalisty said. A can of soup that was $0.99 a year now costs anywhere between $1.50 to $2.00, she said.Samaritan House is the only dedicated food bank in Brandon and the second-largest in Manitoba, receiving about 800 items from Harvest Manitoba every two weeks. Everything else comes from purchases or donations.The food bank has already purchased more food in 2025 than ever before, using donated dollars to cover both food and staffing costs.Symbalisty is especially worried about rising demands through the winter as they work to support 3,130 households — including almost 3,000 children — with monthly hampers, she said..“We are just looking for some extra help … to get us through the winter,” Symbalisty said. “We can move forward together to help … because if we don’t do that as a collective then it’s really hard.”ABOUT THE AUTHORChelsea Kemp is a multimedia journalist with CBC Manitoba. She is based in CBC’s bureau in Brandon, covering stories focused on rural Manitoba. Share your story ideas, tips and feedback with chelsea.kemp@cbc.ca.
Brandon’s food bank and soup kitchen see sharp rise in demand, reflecting rising cost of living
