First Stop Food Bank: Yorkton Salvation Army Helps Rebuild Lives

The Salvation Army in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, operates a food bank for the surrounding communities, but the support they offer goes beyond just groceries and household necessities.

Maria Kolebaba has worked at the Salvation Army Yorkton food bank for five years. As in many small towns, Maria wears many hats – she assists clients with food bank sign-up, receives and coordinates donations, tracks the food bank’s inventory and repackages donations for distribution.

One afternoon, Maria was working in the food bank when a woman came in. She had walked many kilometres and many hours from a nearby town to come to the Yorkton food bank. The woman was tired and nursing an injury and asked Maria if she could rest a while. When Maria finished with her regular clients, she spoke with the woman and learned what had brought her to the food bank.

The woman had recently moved to Saskatchewan from another province. She had escaped an abusive relationship and left with nothing. She wanted to start a new life and didn’t have a car, but she had heard she could find help at the nearest Salvation Army.

Maria helped the woman with some groceries and arranged a ride home for her. Now the woman is a regular client of the food bank, receiving monthly hampers to help her on the path to rebuilding her life. Members of the Yorkton Corps of The Salvation Army and her neighbours help by delivering her hampers as she saves money to buy a used car. Through the food bank, she has found community.

The woman was so grateful for the help she received that although she had very few belongings, she wanted to gift Maria a handbag to show her appreciation. Maria was moved by the gesture, and although she declined the gift, the women remain friends and stay in touch.

The Yorkton food bank is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 am to 2 pm are hamper days, where regular monthly clients check in, update their files, and pick up their hampers. On Wednesdays, Maria and a small team of volunteers sort through inventory and stock the shelves to prepare for hamper pick-ups.

“The regular clients that come in monthly get their hamper; that’s a bag of groceries and a bag of meat. That hamper is just the basics, such as pasta, canned soup, tomato sauce, etcetera,” explains Maria. “Aside from the packed hamper, I would ask them, ‘Is there anything else you need?’ Do you have shampoo? Deodorant? Do you have laundry soap, do you have dish soap, do you have diapers, toilet papers, stuff like that.”

Maria says they see between 20-23 regular clients each day, averaging 65-70 hampers per month. On Wednesdays, they also support up to 30 additional walk-in clients that can access bread and produce and any other products that the food bank has in surplus.

The Salvation Army Food Bank is located at 78 Front Street in Yorkton. The Salvation Army has been active in Yorkton since 1913.

If this story has moved you to consider a donation to the Yorkton Food Bank, please contact Tim Keizer at 306-450-7940 or click here to email.

The Yorkton Food Bank is grateful for support from Calidon Equipment Leasing.