The emergency food pantry at the Root Cellar Food and Wellness Hub opened this week. (Photo Courtesy Bob Schneider)

By Chris Brown

Emergency Food Pantry now open

Root Cellar expecting surge in clients early in 2022

Dec 16, 2021 | 2:33 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Family budgets are getting pinched with the cost of many daily items rising.

It’s a problem expected to be felt deeply in the coming months at the Root Cellar Food and Wellness Hub.

“We typically see a surge in January, February after Christmas normally but I really believe with the numbers we’re seeing now it’s definitely going to be a greater need in the new year,” says Melissa Mullis, marketing and events manager at the Root Cellar. She adds they’re already looking ahead and planning for greater a number of people needing help.

“We’re sourcing lower-cost food, we’re sourcing different partners to see what kind of deals we can get on food and we just rely on the support of our community.”

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Mullis says right now they’re getting between 150 and 200 calls a day, more than they ever have in the past.

As its client list grows the new and larger space the organization has moved into in the old Maple Avenue Fire Hall will help, as will a return to the way they used to do things.

For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, the emergency food pantry is open to clients for shopping so they can pick the food they want.

Public health restrictions have limited them to giving clients a box of food for the past 20 months.

“It’s a big piece about dignity we can come in and pick and choose the foods that we want and the foods that you know, you know make our families happy as opposed to just getting a random box of food,” says Mullis. “And sometimes things in the box are not what we can use or what our family likes and so it gives people the ability to reduce waste but also you know have some dignity in choosing what they want.”

Allowing clients in the building for the pantry means people are getting their first look at the new space, and Mullis says it’s been getting rave reviews.

She adds the architects designed the building with the clients in mind and that people shouldn’t feel embarrassed if they need the supports or programming the Root Cellar offers.

“We just want to encourage people that our space is beautiful, it’s bright, it’s happy, it’s a friendly family environment and we just want to make sure that it’s an inclusive space that our community can feel comfortable in,” she says. “Please give us a call if you need help. We don’t want anybody to go without because they’re afraid of coming on in.”

Mullis says starting in the new year they will be starting food programming in the kitchens at the Root Cellar.