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Colleen never expected that becoming a mother would also mean facing one of the most financially challenging periods of her life. She and her husband Kyle, both working stable and well-earning remote tech jobs, had prepared carefully for their first child. They saved diligently to cover the reduced income that they knew would come with parental leave and built up their emergency fund. But by the time their daughter arrived, the rising cost of living had outpaced their plans.

Halfway through her maternity leave, as the couple was already finding they were stretching their funds, Kyle was suddenly laid off. The last stability they had vanished overnight. “We thought we had prepared, but there was so much I didn’t know,” Colleen reflects. “I didn’t know I would be so much hungrier while I was breastfeeding or that the costs of so many things would feel double what we planned for.” Colleen and Kyle felt like they were failing.

Colleen found herself signing up for Central Okanagan Food Bank’s Tiny Bundles program after being recommended by a pediatric nurse. Instead of feeling relief at discovering this resource where her family could receive weekly food, diapers, and formula, Collen felt like she was failing more than ever. She held a deep sense of shame around coming to the food bank and sat in her car wondering what needing help said about her character. But when Colleen finally visited the food bank to pick up her hamper, those fears faded. “Everyone was so accepting,” Colleen says. “No one made me feel anything but normal. The volunteers and staff truly changed how I allowed myself to feel about needing help.”

Knowing she could depend on a weekly Tiny Bundles hamper brought a sense of security during a time when little else felt certain. Her family’s experience transformed how Colleen thinks about food banks. She realized how many people turn to COFB during completely ordinary but financially difficult seasons of life. “People judge without knowing the whole story,” she explains. “The food bank isn’t just feeding people. It’s feeding families.”

Today, Kyle is back in a solid, well-paying job and she too is back to work. Their family no longer needs support. But the impact stays with her. “COFB helped us not drown,” she says. “They made surviving possible, so that someday we could thrive.” When their finances allow, Colleen and her husband plan to give back to COFB because they know firsthand just how vital that support can be.