Dwindling donations and increasing demand straining food banks
Our Town Food Bank in Tottenham is struggling to keep its supply up with the rising need.
"We are seeing numbers that we've never seen before. It's an incredible amount of usage going on," said Robine Hawkes, president of Our Town.
The same cost of living increases that are affecting seemingly everyone are making food bank users even more vulnerable.
"We know people are struggling with affordable housing, cost of gas, cost of food. All those things are contributing to challenges with putting food on the tables," said Hawkes.
"The government helped out a lot of people during COVID, and they're not now, and it's really showing in the numbers that are coming in. We have already signed up more people than we did all of last year, said Dorene Lemire, the treasurer at Our Town Food Bank.
RELATED
More people than ever seek support from local food banks as prices soar
Food bank demand spikes as many seek support for the first time
Food bank demand surges amid rising cost of living
Simcoe County families struggle to keep up with rising inflation
And it's not just the demand that has been affected.
People from all walks of life are feeling it.
"It is also our donors. Our traditional donor base is just everyone that lives in the community. They're struggling too, so you start to see things going down," said Hawkes.
It's a problem right across the region.
The Simcoe Muskoka Urgent Needs Fund provides just-in-time funding in a micro-grant for people facing a crisis. It has already issued $50,000 in grants and estimates that number to climb to $200,000 by the end of the year.
"These are grants of only $254, so it puts in perspective the number of people we are serving. The estimation is that one in eight people in our community are experiencing food insecurity, and with children and youth, it's one in six," said Brian Shelley, the chief executive and philanthropy officer for United Way Simcoe Muskoka.
Shelley said the number one need by far in recent months has been food.
"Ultimately, families have to make a decision about paying the rent or putting food on the table. Paying their hydro bill or putting food on the table. Two of those options get you evicted so often families are going without the food," lamented Shelley.
Even the volunteer base at Tottenham's food bank has taken a hit.
"The seniors that were working when we shut everything down. They have not come back. We actually haven't asked a lot of them to come back. We are working on getting younger," said Lemire.
Hawkes hopes that the community, which has been so good to the food bank, continues to support it.
"We've always had lots of pasta. We've had pasta that could feed the whole community, and now we're seeing we have no pasta and no beans, so that's a really big indication of high usage and low donations," concluded Hawkes.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'A beautiful soul': Funeral held for baby boy killed in wrong-way crash on Highway 401
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
Police handcuff man trying to enter Drake's Toronto mansion
Toronto police say a man was taken into custody outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion Wednesday afternoon after he tried to gain access to the residence.
Biden says he will stop sending bombs and artillery shells to Israel if they launch major invasion of Rafah
U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
U.S. presidential candidate RFK Jr. had a brain worm, has recovered, campaign says
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after the New York Times reported about the ailment.
Ontario Provincial Police arrest 64 suspects in child sexual exploitation investigation
Ontario Provincial Police say 64 suspects are facing a combined 348 charges in connection with a series of child sexual exploitation investigations that spanned the province.
Pfizer agrees to settle more than 10K lawsuits over Zantac cancer risk: Bloomberg News
Pfizer has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits about cancer risks related to the now discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal.
Quebec premier defends new museum on Quebecois nation after Indigenous criticism
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is defending his comments about a new history museum after he was accused by a prominent First Nations group of trying to erase their history.
Blind Sask. boy heading to international braille competition hopes to increase accessibility for visually impaired
A Saskatchewan boy who qualified for an international braille competition in Los Angeles next month hopes he can inspire change in his home province.
'A step forward': New screening criteria for sperm donors takes effect
Canadians looking to grow their families with the assistance of sperm or egg donations should soon have more options for donors as the federal health agency does away with longstanding restrictions criticized as discriminatory.