Queens County Food Bank Staff are hoping as the leaves fall, donations go up.

Executive Director of the Queens County Food Bank Shelly Panczyk and her staff of 20 volunteers supply 350 people in Queens with food every month.

Panczyk says warmer weather means a significant drop in donations.

“There’s not a lot of groups getting together saying, okay, we’re going to do this for the food bank, we’re going to run this, this week for the food bank or this month for the food bank. We don’t have any of that in June, July, and August,” said Panczyk.

The Queens County Food Bank has been relying on a shipment of food it receives each Monday from Feed Nova Scotia.

But Panczyk says even that source is drying up since pandemic restrictions have lifted and people have started to return to their normal routines.

“People were donating to the food bank like crazy during this all, they were loaded. Feed Nova Scotia was loaded. Now they’re getting down, they have nothing,” said Panczyk. “I probably was getting 1,200 kilograms and we’re down now to eight (800kg). And each week it’s going down and down, what supplies are coming in from them.”

Shelly Panczyk at Queens County Food Bank. Photo Ed Halverson

Donations from Sobeys and Superstore account for the rest of the supplies currently lining the shelves at their Main Street, Liverpool location.

Panczyk says the decline in donations come as the food bank is seeing an increase in the number of people using their services since the pandemic.

She says what’s needed to ensure they can continue to serve the community is a regular stream of donations either through the drop boxes at local grocery stores or by monthly donation to Feed Nova Scotia.

To learn how to donate to the Queens County Food Bank you can head to their Facebook Page.

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