Barrie Food Bank raises $150,000 with Spring Campaign, short of target

With the start of a new month comes the end of the Barrie Food Bank's spring campaign, which aimed to raise $250,000 and 100,000 pounds of food.

"We did well on the food side. We ended up with about 140,000 pounds of food. On the financial side, we were a little lighter than we had hoped at $150,000," shared the Barrie Food Bank's executive director Sharon Palmer.

Palmer said the food bank has consistently been seeing around 7,000 clients per month, but those numbers have recently levelled off.

"It's always dependent on the economy and what's happening on a broader perspective. With inflation coming down a little bit in the last month or so, that's a good sign," she noted.

The Sharing Place in Orillia reported a similar trend.

"We're seeing about a 30 to 40 per cent increase year over year. [The] last few months, it started to plateau", said Chris Peacock, The Sharing Place executive director.

Peacock currently assists around 2,200 individuals monthly, with an exceptionally high demand over the Easter weekend.

"Holiday seasons like Easter... the demand for our services increase," he said. "Anytime there's any increase to household budget. If people want to host individuals over for a holiday meal, it means that they have to find food, find money they didn't have planned."

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The Sharing Place and Barrie Food Bank consistently see a significant increase in first-time clients.

"Definitely, more seniors in our community are coming to access the sharing place, which is wonderful to see those individuals ask for support and help. Definitely families, individuals, single moms, and single dads," said Peacock.

"The main thing we would like to see is the financial donations because that allows us to buy the milk, the meat, the dairy. Those are the items we don't get donations for," explained Palmer.

The Barrie Food Bank's next campaign is the Home Runs for the Hungry fundraiser on May 4. The goal is to raise $30,000. Tickets for the event are available online.