York Region food bank partners with YMCA GTA to help those in need

VAUGHAN, ONT. -- An unfortunate reality of the pandemic is that more people are facing food insecurity.

The Food Bank of York Region has the shelves stocked. The challenge now is getting those donations to clients.

"There's no shortage of food. It's the lack of drivers and capacity to get it out fast enough," explains Alex Bilotta, CEO, LifeCorps International.

The food bank is a distribution hub for 74 agencies around York Region.

Bilotta says the food bank has seen an increase in demand of 15 per cent since the pandemic compared to this time last year.

The facility receives about eight skids of food donations from chain grocery stores daily, which is great, except there is no place to store it.

But, with a new partnership with the YMCA of Greater Toronto, capacity is no longer a problem.

The YMCA Cedar Glen Outdoor Centre is usually an outdoor leadership site, but since COVID-19 closed its doors, staff have converted the space into a sorting centre for the Food Bank of York Region.

Joining forces also gave YMCA employees a chance to be redeployed.