Keeping enough food on the shelves to meet demand is always a challenge for food banks, and that challenge is even greater through the summer months.
In Barrie, the food bank is making efforts to keep the donations coming in.
“People kind of disconnect making donations at the food bank during the summer months,” says Barrie Food Bank director Peter Sundborg. “People are doing their own thing, right? Schools aren't in, there are holidays, going to the cottage, going camping, whatever your summer vacation plans are. You don't really have the food bank in mind.”
So, donations start dropping off. But the needs of the community don’t.
In Barrie, about 2,800 people use the food bank every month to make ends-meet. But the food bank has yet to hit its goal of food donations to make sure there's enough for the whole summer.
“Our goal, as I say, is 200,000 pounds of food. We're sitting just over 150,000 pounds between the month of May and the month of June,” Sundborg says.
That 50,000 pounds may seem like a lot, but Sundborg says the food bank is “really close” to its goal.
There was a big push this weekend to make sure the shelves are stocked: the 12 Ladies in a Tent fundraiser brought in buckets of donations. Now, Sundborg says he's confident they'll meet their target.
“I'm not really worried because the community seems to always come through,” he says. “We've received a lot of financial donations, probably more financial donations than food donations. And what that means is that we're able to purchase specifically what we need.”
Canned vegetables, canned fruit, and baby food are the most needed items at the food bank. You can also make a financial donation online or in person.
