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."
- Download the CTV News app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates sent to your email inbox
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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.