A charity in Barrie that's helped feed people in need for many years is closing its doors this week.
Now that's raising new worries about families going hungry.
After almost a decade in Barrie, the Grocery Assistance Program at the Elizabeth Fry Society is closing its doors.
“It has been a very successful program for nine years but the Barrie Food Bank has made a lot of changes and we are very confident they will be able to meet with the needs of the community,” says Tracy Wood, the acting executive director at the Elizabeth Fry Society.
Wood says those changes are good ones and mean the food bank will be able to carry on the work the GAP was doing.
“(It’s) made the program a lot more flexible for individuals that are in need immediately. So they have a drop in Monday to Friday, they have emergency bags much like the GAP was providing as well, and the amount of time they can go per year has increased as well,” she says.
Wood says the GAP was taking about 80 per cent of her time, and says a food bank service wasn’t “the focus of Elizabeth Fry.”
“We need to get back to our grassroots and do what we do well, and let the Barrie Food Bank do what they do well,” she says.
For the society that means focusing on outreach work with women and children.
The Barrie Food Bank, meanwhile, says it’s ready for more people, but don't anticipate any dramatic changes in operations.
“It might bring a small influx, like an extra couple hundred people per month, but for us we are prepared to handle that,” says Peter Sundborg, executive director Barrie Food Bank.
Sundborg says the need for these kinds of food assistance programs is growing, and they continue to rely on the community so families can keep getting food.
“We're averaging about 28,000 to 29,000 (people) per month. In 2013 we saw just over 32,000 individuals come through the food bank,” he says. “Only two years ago that number was about 21,000.”
The Elizabeth Fry Society says it plans to use the space to help store belongings for women who stay with them. They say the majority of the food will probably be gone by tomorrow and any extra will be donated to the community.
