The shelves at the Romero House soup kitchen in uptown Saint John are looking quite full once again.
Community members came together once again for the 15th annual Ritchie’s Food Drive last week.
Evelyn McNulty, executive director of Romero House, said the annual fundraiser is critical for the work that they do.
“It does provide us with the staples for a good long portion of the year,” McNulty said in a phone interview on Monday.
“It also gives us security. Being a non-profit and relying on free-will donations, it’s nice to have a pocket of things arrive all at once so that you know what you’re doing and where you’re going.”
McNulty said the help could not have come at a better time as the soup kitchen served a record 3,080 meals last week.
She said they have served more than 115,000 meals so far this year. Typically, that number is around 75,000 to 82,000 every year, she said.
“We have a number of seniors coming that we’ve never seen before, which is really sad. People are living fixed incomes, and as everybody knows who shops or goes to buy food, food has gone up,” said McNulty.
She believes the end of the federal government’s Canada Recovery Benefit has also led to an increase in users at the soup kitchen.
You can drop off donations of food or money at Romero House on Brunswick Drive seven days a week. They are open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekends.
