Demand at food banks soar amid inflation and lack of affordable housing

The rising cost of living is driving people in record numbers to seek support from local food banks stressed by the increasing pressures to meet demand.

"We're up about 60 per cent year over year in terms of the number of households that are visiting," said Barrie Food Bank executive director Sharon Palmer.

The increase translates into about 3,000 individuals each month seeking food support from the Barrie facility.

And the story is the same in Orillia, where The Sharing Food Place's executive director says there has been a 73 per cent jump in new members.

"Which puts a strain on our organization," said Chris Peacock. "People that have never accessed our services before."

Palmer points her finger at inflation and the lack of affordable housing.

"Lower incomes or fixed incomes on ODSP. Those are people that don't have any other options to try and make up for those increases in prices," she said.

And because of the soaring prices, food banks have had to develop creative ways to continue supporting families.

"We did do a bit of a cut back earlier in the summertime, and luckily right now, we're starting to get a lot of fruits and vegetables from our local farms," Palmer added.

But the growing season is coming to an end, and inflation has damaged the purchasing power of food banks while turning former donors into those in need.

"The busiest we are during the week is Tuesday nights. When people get off work, they come access the food bank," Peacock shared.

The Orillia food bank is trying to access kids who won't directly use its services because of the stigma through their school fuel program, which serves more than 4,000 students per day at 22 regional schools.

"Those are individuals and kids - students that might be in homes that just don't have enough money to be able to supply nutritious food for those kids to go to school," Peacock said.

The Barrie Food Bank hopes to reach its goal of 150,000 pounds of food and $150,000 in financial donations in its Thanksgiving Food Drive, kicking off this week and running until the end of October.

The Sharing Place's Healthy Holiday Donation Drive is looking for groups, companies and individuals to host donation drives around the community starting in October. It also needs more volunteers to keep up with the rising demand.