CRB replaced the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) in Sept. 2020. CRB initially provided $1,000 every two weeks—or half of what CERB offered—to Canadians who could not work or saw at least 50 per cent of their weekly income cut because of COVID-19. This benefit was scaled down to $600 every two weeks and ended on Oct. 23.
The food bank also saw a temporary drop in 2021. Edwards attributed this to moving to the new Centennial Drive location, and the time it took for the installation of refrigerators and freezer units.
“Some of our clients were saying ‘we have all the non-perishables, we need produce. As soon as you have that, we’ll call,’” said Edwards. “As soon as we had that, our numbers just started going right back up.”
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