Shelly Panczyk is the chairwoman of the Queens County Food Bank in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)

Queens County has one of the highest rates of child poverty in Canada.

A new report on child and family poverty in Canada ranks Nova Scotia as the worst in Atlantic Canada and one of the worst in the whole country in reducing child poverty. And Queens is a top problem spot in the province. 

The 2024 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Nova Scotia looked at household incomes from 2022, based on tax filings.

Lesley Frank, the co-author of the report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, is also the Canada research chair for food health and social justice at Acadia University.

She told QCCR that the province doesn’t have a great track record on child poverty.

“Nova Scotia has had a lacklustre performance in child poverty reduction,” Frank said. “We’ve typically over the last several years had the highest child poverty rate in Atlantic Canada, the fifth highest in Canada including the territories, third highest provincial rate.”

The report found that more than one in five children live in poverty in Nova Scotia, or 23.8 per cent. That amounts to 41,500 kids, an increase of 16 per cent over the year before.

Frank and her co-authors say that’s the biggest increase in a single year since 1989, when the federal government promised to eradicate child poverty by the year 2000.

In Queens County, the numbers are even worse, where 31.5 per cent of children live in poverty, the fourth highest rate in Nova Scotia. That’s a 10 per cent increase over the numbers from 2021, representing 510 children in Queens County.

The rate is higher still in Liverpool at 32.8 per cent.

“Typically if you look at Canada as a whole, generally there tends to be higher poverty rates in urban areas as opposed to rural,” she said. “That doesn’t really hold for Nova Scotia. There are a lot of high rates in rural Nova Scotia. … There’s a rise in rates in western Nova Scotia in general.”

The numbers are no surprise to Shelly Panczyk, the chairperson of the Queens County Food Bank.

She said they see about 240 families a month, a 30 per cent increase over previous years. Combined with the numbers who use the Community Food Resource Network in Caledonia, Panczyk estimates more than 300 Queens County families rely on food banks every month.

She said she and other food bank volunteers served 85 families on Tuesday alone, the last pickup day before Christmas.

“That’s a lot of families in a small community. I don’t see it getting any better for the next little while. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.

“About 20 per cent of our clients are two-income families.”

Panczyk points out that there are few opportunities for high-paying jobs in Queens. And low wages directly lead to family poverty, including food and housing insecurity.

Frank says governments know how to fix the problem.

She points to the federal and provincial programs offered during the pandemic. Those had a marked impact on lifting families and children out of poverty.

“We have demonstrated that we can swiftly reduce child poverty with adequate income supports. We just didn’t stick with it,” Frank said.

“We really shouldn’t be that surprised that the child poverty rates increased in 2022 in such a dramatic way because all those benefits that were there two years ago that lowered it were gone. If you do nothing, you can expect that to be the outcome. That’s why it keeps happening. We don’t do the things that we know will work.”

Frank and her co-authors call on the provincial government to create a poverty elimination plan to reduce poverty rates by 50 per cent by 2027.

That would include things like making the Nova Scotia child benefit available to more families and have it indexed to inflation.

The plan would also address social assistance rates, create a living wage standard and establish a child and youth advocacy office.

“Children have a right to food, and those that are living on government transfers only as their only source of income it’s shockingly immoral on how much those families are receiving. A one-parent family with one child has to live on $21,000 a year in Nova Scotia for all its needs. It’s impossible.

“Many of these children are living in families with full-time working parents so that has to do with establishing conditions for decent work and quality job creation, bringing incomes to living wages so people can afford basic necessities of life and have quality of life.”

The food bank’s Panczyk said all governments – municipal, provincial and federal – have a responsibility to lower child poverty.

“They have to make it that it’s affordable for people to live. It’s like anything: Do I eat? Do I pay rent? Do I pay some on my light bill?

“Everybody has to step up in the government and try to help in some way.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Spend a day at the beach with Jane Dunlop-Stevenson for Hands Across the Sands, a fundraiser for the Queens County Food Bank on Sunday at Summerville Beach. (Rick Conrad

You can help turn a day at the beach into a work of art this weekend, and raise some money for a local charity.

Liverpool artist Jane Dunlop-Stevenson is organizing Hands Across the Sands: Art with Heart for the Food Bank on Sunday at 1 p.m. on Summerville Beach.

The idea is to draw 30-foot tall stick figures on the beach at low tide. You make a $20 donation to the Queens County Food Bank for each figure. And Dunlop-Stevenson and other volunteers will help you bring your beach art into the world.

“It started with a gentleman saying to me it would be neat to see people being drawn on the beach,” Dunlop-Stevenson said in a recent interview.

“And that led me to think of a picture of all these stick people and what we could do with it and it just evolved into let’s charge some money and help out the food bank and create this great picture.

“The original goal was to draw 150 30-foot stick figures at $20 a piece which would then (be) $3,000 to the food bank. We’re at a third of that right now. So that’s really good. I’m pleased with that. Just to envision 77 30-foot stick drawings is incredible across the beach, all holding hands, … with their feet in the water. It’ll be really neat to see the tide coming in and touching their toes.”

After everybody has drawn their figures, Dunlop-Stevenson will take drone footage of the whole scene and post it.

This is the first time she’s created sand art at Summerville with so many other people. But she’s a veteran virtuoso at creating striking short-term sand art.

Probably her best known work was a 120-foot-by-60-foot tribute to Olympic shot putter Sarah Mitton before this summer’s games. That one featured an 85-foot Eiffel Tower, a Canadian flag and the Olympic rings.

Dunlop-Stevenson created this tribute to Sarah Mitton this summer at Summerville Beach. (Jane Stevenson photo)

She’s also recreated the logo for the Liverpool International Theatre Festival. And she’s taken small groups to Summerville to create mandalas and other images.

But Sunday’s event promises to be her biggest group effort yet. She and some other volunteers will sketch out the heads of all the stick figures ahead of time. 

And participants just have to bring their own rakes to help give their pieces texture, so that they show up against the smooth sand.

“And they will rake the head and choose their design however they want it, however simple or dressed up they want their little person to be, it’s totally up to them. No perfection is necessary. If you have your little picture drawn and you know what you want to put in the sand, it will probably take you 20 minutes maybe to draw a stick figure. So it’s very possible to draw a few.

“Nothing has to be perfect. It’s all just for fun and to see this really cool art.”

Dunlop-Stevenson has set up a Facebook event, which includes a link to a Google registration form. You can go by yourself or get a team of five together. 

And if the weather doesn’t co-operate this weekend, they’ll try it again on Nov. 30. Look for updates on their Facebook event Hands Across the Sands: Art with Heart for the Food Bank.

“Bring your rakes, find some pictures online, bring your 20 bucks and bring your friends. … We can always be warm at the beach.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

QCCR acknowledges the support of the Community Radio Fund of Canada’s Local Journalism Initiative.

Shelly Panczyk is the chairwoman of the Queens County Food Bank in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)

More people are using the Queens County Food Bank at the same time as donations are dropping.

Shelly Panczyk, chairwoman of the food bank on Main Street in Liverpool, says the charity saw 4,993 people last year. Of those, 1,494 were children. 

That’s up markedly from when she started at the charity four years ago. She said back then, they’d see 40 families a week. Now, it’s closer to 55 families a week.

“I just want people to realize that this is a very, very busy place. I call this the third grocery store in Queens County.”

“This situation (our clients are) in, they can’t help it. We’ve seen people in here, husband and wife, each of them working. This is going to get worse before it ever gets better.”

Clients can go to the food bank every 21 days to stock up on food and household items. The food bank also operates a thrift store on Main Street, about a block away.

Last year, revenue at the food bank alone was down by $107,000. But expenses climbed by $17,000. The thrift store, though, generated $82,000 in net income for the food bank. 

Panczyk and the board reported those figures at the charity’s recent annual general meeting. She clarified that part of the reason for the revenue drop in 2023 was that they didn’t receive any large grants like they did the year before.

Panczyk said the food bank does have savings in the bank. But she said in an interview that without the income from the thrift store, they would be in trouble.

“Without that store, this food bank would not be running,” she said.

Both the food bank and the thrift store are run entirely by volunteers. They have as many as 50 through the year. There are no paid staff.

“It costs $140,000 a year to run this food bank, just this building. And we don’t get that in donations. That store … is our little gold mine.”

Panczyk said that older people and churches used to be among their biggest donors. 

“The donors were the people that are in their 80s and 90s and now have died. Churches were always a good donation, because churches were the ones that started most food banks. Churches are closing, their parishioners are down.”

A study released in February by food rescue organization Second Harvest showed that demand for food charity in Canada is expected to rise by 18 per cent this year. The study found that on average, each charity needs an extra $76,000 to meet that increased demand.

Panczyk says monetary and food donations have dropped, though she says that the local Sobeys and Superstore are still major food donors. And they receive regular shipments from Feed Nova Scotia.

But she said she still has to buy a lot of food to serve their clients. 

“My grocery bill here for a month is anywhere from $4-6,000.”

She said four years ago, the food bank would buy 200 pounds of hamburger to distribute over three months.

“I’m buying 500 pounds. They used to pay $2.99 (a pound) and I have to wait until it goes on sale and I pay almost $5 a pound. And I give out 200 pounds of that a month now.”

The food bank is also required to stock 14 staple food items such as peanut butter, crackers, pasta sauce and spaghetti. They have to buy many of those items. 

And Panczyk says she has to make sure she can cater to more diverse food needs, as more families of various backgrounds move to Queens County.

She has applied for grants to begin to stock more food variety, such as halal meats or basmati rice.

“So this is a whole new scenario for food banks, especially in these smaller communities that we never had before.”

Panczyk said she’s grateful for the donors they do have and for the community support of the thrift store. 

But she said they need more cash donations so that they can continue to serve a growing and more diverse clientele.

“I don’t think I  want to be starting out again not what these people are going through. I think this is almost as bad as the Depression, trying to fight your way through.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Shelly Panczyk (centre) with representatives from Liverpool Superstore, food bank staff, Queens Mayor Darlene Norman and MLA Kim Masland. Photo Ed Halverson

A new walk-in freezer is helping the Queens County Food Bank provide better service to more people, more efficiently.

The 12’ x 12’ walk in freezer is the result of a $45,000 donation courtesy of Loblaws Canada.

Chair of the Queens County Food Bank Shelley Panczyk learned they would be receiving the funding in November of 2022.

The walk-in replaces chest freezers the food bank had been using and Panczyk says the ability to open a door and see where food is at a glance has been extremely helpful to volunteers.

“You’ve got your hamburger here and your hot dogs here and things on top of each other and we were always pulling and taking out and rearranging,” said Panczyk.

For two years before the new unit was installed, Panczyk says Mersey Seafood would store overflow frozen food for the bank.

She welcomes the increased capacity the new freezer provides as over the past three years food bank use has increased dramatically.

“And it’s not just single people. I have people in here that are, two people working. With the way the economy is, and the pricing, that have to come here because there’s no way that they could ever live.”

On average, the Queens County Food Bank provides for 160 families every month serving 450-500 people, 33 percent of those are children.

Panczyk says the support from the Superstore and Sobeys stores in Liverpool is invaluable.

She also appreciates all the generous food donations being dropped off at various locations.

While those are good, Panczyk says one of the best ways to support the food bank is through making a cash donation.

“Money donations are better because I’m always, always looking for sales. That’s part of my work,” said Panczyk. “Every Thursday I have to get the flyers from Superstore and Sobeys and I go through and what’s ever on sale that I use as a staple, I have to order. And we’re ordering cases.”

Panczyk says they can accept cash or cheque at the food bank or thrift store locations, by mail or people can e-transfer the funds.

Donors receive a receipt which can come in handy when looking for deductions at tax time.

Now that the walk-in freezer is installed and running, Panczyk says the Food Bank infrastructure is set for years to come and they can confidently focus on serving their clients.

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Community Food Cruise volunteers. Photo courtesy Kim Masland’s office

Once again, Queens County came out in a big way last weekend to support the community food cruise.

The annual event organized by Queens MLA Kim Masland and a small group of volunteers parks an RCMP cruiser at the Liverpool Superstore to accept donations for the Queens County Food bank.

This year residents opened their hearts and wallets to cram 1,512 food items into the cruiser along with $1,361.13 in cash, cheques, and gift cards.

The event pulls many groups in the community together to support the Food Bank.

RCMP Community Policing Officer Cst. Winsor, brought the cruiser, Superstore hosts the event in their parking lot and their employees pre-package donation bags for purchase, Queens County Transit provided a van and driver to collect the donations that wouldn’t fit in the cruiser, and a small but mighty team of volunteers including Annette Burke, Al Steele and Masland’s Constituency Assistant Sam Scobey helped collect donations.

Masland expressed her gratitude for everyone involved in a post on social media saying, “The dedicated volunteers of Queens County Foodbank were full of smiles and tears as we rolled up to their doors with a full van. They very quickly went to work on a Saturday afternoon to fill their shelves.”

Masland summed up the event by saying, “It was a cold day, but our hearts were full of warmth, friendship and giving. This is Christmas to me. “

Donations can made to the Queens County Food Bank anytime by dropping items in bins located at the Liverpool Superstore and Sobeys locations or by contacting them by phone or  through their Facebook page.

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Queens County Food Bank. Photo Ed Halverson

Christmas came early to the Queens County Food Bank as the organization received just over $45,000 to buy a new walk-in freezer.

Queens was one of five banks across Canada to receive grants from Loblaw Companies Limited, the parent company of local Real Atlantic Superstore, No Frills and Independent stores.

The new freezer will increase the food bank’s frozen food capacity by 25 percent when it arrives sometime in the spring.

Chair of the Queens County Food Bank Shelly Panczyk says that extra space couldn’t come at a better time.

“We’re going into an economic slump or recession or whatever. Everything is starting to escalate,” said Panczyk. “Even two people in a family that are working sometimes have to use a food bank.”

Panczyk says she is seeing a 20 percent increase in the number of people using the Food Bank over last year.

On average 120 families or 450 people use the food bank every month, a third of those are children.

She expects those numbers will go even higher after Christmas.

“I feel in January February, you know, the winter months when reality sets in, because we’ve only had a taste of it increase in heating,” said Panczyk.

She says the Food Bank is anticipating the usual uptick in donations as people get into the spirit during the holiday season.

Panczyk looks forward to launching several of their regular donation drive efforts once Remembrance Day passes.

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Queens County Food Bank shelves have lots of space for more donations. Photo Ed Halverson

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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Queens County Food Bank. Photo: Ed Halverson

The middle of a pandemic is a tough time to take over the operations of a food bank.

Chair of the Queens Food Bank Shelly Panczyk assumed the role in September of 2020 after long serving chair Charlotte White stepped down.

Panczyk says the opportunity to learn from White for almost a year combined with the dedication of all the volunteers have made the job easier.

“They’ve worked tirelessly through this whole thing and kept people fed,” said Panczyk.

A dedicated team of nine volunteers and Panczyk ensure the operation continues to run smoothly.

The food bank has had a steady stream of clients since the beginning of the pandemic, but Panczyk says she has seen an uptick in demand of 10 to 20 percent since the end of the federal CERB benefit.

“These poor people that are out, they’ve upped the minimum wage to 15 but they’ve also upped the cost of living by 20 percent,” said Panczyk. “So, you know what, you’re not getting anything for your dollar, right?”

The Queens County Food Bank is part of the Feed Nova Scotia network and receives a truck load of food at the beginning of each week.

But it still relies on food donations from the local grocery stores and private donors for some of the more perishable items such as bread and dairy.

Before the pandemic, the organization would host fundraisers, but COVID restrictions forced them to be creative on how to raise money.

Panczyk came up with the idea for the thrift store which opened to the public in April 2021.

Every item sold comes from the local community and any proceeds pay the bills for both the store and the food bank.

“We got it open, and people just came to it. It was unbelievable. I’m amazed at the end of every week what we do for, moneywise,” said Panczyk. “You know that a small town, it keeps us going.”

Despite the growing popularity of the thrift store, cash donations are still needed.

Cash in hand not only helps the food bank stock up on products they need while they’re on sale but also helps them to pay bills like rent, heat and lights that allow them to operate.

Panczyk says like most charities, the Christmas season brings in the bulk of their donations for the entire year.

Anyone interested in donating can do so anytime by contacting the Queens County food bank or by putting some items in the bin at their local grocery store.

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Queens County Food Bank. Photo: Ed Halverson

RCMP in Queens are working with the community to clamp down on hunger this Christmas.

The annual stuff the cruiser event is taking place again this weekend.

Each year RCMP and their community partners gather donations for the Queens County Food Bank.

Queens-Shelburne MLA Kim Masland has been involved for the past four years and says the community really gets behind the event.

“Oh my gosh, yes, we definitely stuff more than one cruiser. Last year, I forget the actual pounds we had but it was very significant,” said Masland.

In fact, the donations overflowed the cruiser and stuffed two other vehicles.

Masland said support also comes in the form of grocery store gift cards and last year they received around $1,100 in gift cards and cash.

Usually the event would be a great opportunity to socialize and wish each other well over the holidays but like so much of 2020, COVID has changed that.

“We would have hot chocolate that’s donated by Tim Hortons, coffee by McDonalds, Superstore always has sandwiches, that type of stuff, and we’d have carollers there. This year, we’re not going to be able to do all of that,” said Masland. “But we’ll still be there with smiles on our faces, spreading our Christmas cheer and hope that we get to see you pop off a donation.”

Masland said the donations will support all of Queens County as the Liverpool food bank will be helping to supply the Caledonia food bank in North Queens as well.

At this time of year, Masland said people can feel good about helping their neighbours.

“It certainly makes your heart happy and very full,” said Masland. “You know, since becoming the MLA it has become a real eye-opener for me to see the number of people around me in my community that struggle just to make ends meet.”

Masland said there’s a large amount of poverty in Queens. There are children who go to school hungry, parents choosing between paying the power bill or their rent and feeding their families.

It’s good for people to remember that spirit of Christmas giving throughout the year.

“It’s really important and it’s who we are. Nova Scotians are very friendly, caring compassionate people. And in Queens County, through the pandemic, we saw that,” said Masland. “People really opened their arms up and they wrapped them around people. We can’t do that now because of COVID, but we look after each other.”

Masland said she’ll be at the Liverpool Superstore alongside RCMP Constable Ron Duffney on Saturday between 10:00am and 2:00pm to receive donations.

Donations can also be made in advance at Superstore or left at Masland’s office 271 Main Street in Liverpool.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
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Twitter: @edwardhalverson