The St. Vincent de Paul food bank in Carbonear is facing closure before Christmas due to increased demand and the inability to stock shelves to meet the need.

Kerri Abbott and Kaitlyn Clarke took to Facebook this week to deliver a tearful message to those who rely on the food bank that they are in such “dire straights” that they are in the position of trying to decide if they will be able to remain open next week.

Abbott says they don’t even have the staples needed for their ordinary monthly hampers.

“Right now, we’re in danger of not being able to do the Christmas hampers to the best of our ability,” Abbott said fighting back tears. “We have no orange juice, we have no butter, we have no teabags. The list of staples that we don’t have that’s in our basic hamper, we don’t even have those items.”