Food bank demand continues to climb in northeastern Ontario after record years
CBC
At the St. Vincent Place food bank in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. demand was up 30 per cent in January, compared to the same period last year.
"It's looking like we're going to have another tough year," said Sara McCleary, St. Vincent Place's marketing manager.
McCleary said demand has gone up steadily since the COVID-19 pandemic due to the increased cost of living.
"We have seen a lot more people coming to us with jobs that are just not able to make ends meet," she said.
In its annual Hungry for Change report the organization Second Harvest has estimated that non-profit organizations that provide food charity, including food banks, can expect an 18 per cent increase in demand in 2024, compared to the previous year.
At St. Vincent Place, which also runs a transitional home, soup kitchen and school lunch program in addition to its food bank, demand increased by 45 per cent in 2021, another 10 per cent in 2022 and 31 per cent in 2023.
"Fortunately, we've been really lucky that the community has really stepped up in terms of donations," McCleary said.
But if more people struggle to meet their basic needs, she said there is a concern the food bank could also struggle to keep up.
Dan Xilon, the executive director of the Sudbury Food Bank, said if demand were to go up by 18 per cent this year it would create "quite a crisis in the community."
Xilon said demand has been up as many people turn to the food bank for the first time.
"We are consistently getting requests for service from individuals and we are hitting numbers that were never envisioned when we first started," he said.
Xilon said food banks were never meant to solve poverty and food insecurity, and have always been a "band-aid solution" that provides temporary relief for people going through a difficult time.
He said any long term solutions to those problems would need to come from societal changes and government policies.
"The first thing that has to happen of course is affordable housing," Xilon said.
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