Richmond charities have seen demand surge in 2023 driven by the high cost of living in the city.
“I don't think it'll come as a surprise to anyone with the economy the way that it is that people are struggling this year. From our standpoint as a charity in Richmond, it's affected us on both fronts,” said Ed Gavsie, president and CEO of Richmond Cares, Richmond Gives (RCRG).
“We have more people seeking help, whether it be people for the Christmas Fund, whether it be seniors, or others, and our donations, both corporately and individually, are down, because people can't afford.”
Gavsie said the organization saw a record number of people seeking help from its Christmas Fund this year in its 91 years of history with an increase of 36 per cent in demand compared to 2022.
“And our donations were down about 18 per cent over the last year…we lost four major corporate donors although we did make up a couple of them,” he said.
“We've had to dig in a bit to our reserves for Christmas Fund this year.”
Bruce McAndless-Davis, minister of Gilmore Park United Church, said they have also seen a rising demand for community meals the organization is providing every week.
“We’ve been seeing the number of people coming to our community meal going up in the last six, seven months…we certainly noticed that there are more newcomers and people who are here as refugees,” said McAndless-Davis.
“That's interesting because the refugees have sponsors, whether it's a government sponsorship or private, but even with the sponsorship funds, they're finding it difficult to make ends meet.”
The surging cost of living, including food and high house prices in Richmond, are the major reasons behind the growing number of people in need, and some have been forced to move out of the city, according to McAndless-Davis.
“People have responded to the needs but some people have had to reduce their giving because of the increased costs in their own lives,” he said.
“But we also have some generous people that are well off and are able to give so we're able to keep up with the needs that we're trying to address. But... there's still lots more that's needed.”
Gavsie said vulnerable seniors in Richmond are the most impacted by the increased demand for charitable services and the decline in donations.
“The result of that is our waitlists for services, specifically about seniors, are growing. Whether it be drivers, housekeeping, meal preparation, as the waitlist becomes longer until they receive service,” he said.
“We have one program right now which is for different services but the wait on that for seniors typically can be up to a year and a half until we can get them services.”
Gavsie said he doesn’t see the demand dropping in the near future and the organization is coming up with new ways, including starting earlier with their fundraising efforts and approaching more corporations, to try to address the challenges.
“I'm hoping number one that the economy does improve. And then if it does…all we can do is keep telling our story to the public, individual donors, as well as the corporate donors… And we are definitely letting the government know at every opportunity at every level what's going on.”
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