North Bay Food Bank makes plea for donations as demand goes up
CBC
Demand is up and donations are down at food banks in northeastern Ontario.
While most food bank donations tend to come around the Christmas season, the North Bay Food bank is asking people to donate earlier if they can.
"The holiday season truly is our best season for donations. But think about doing those things now," said Debbie Marson, executive director of the North Bay Food Bank.
"So that gets us into, you know, a better place where we're not having to stretch things."
Marson says 370 households registered to use the food bank last year, but by the end of July this year they were already at 233 new households.
At the same time, donations are down.
She says they would collect around 100 pounds of food a week from retailers in past years.
"Now we're lucky if we got 10 [pounds]," Marson said.
She says more clients are working families who are having trouble keeping up with their bills due to inflation.
Dan Xilon, the executive director of the Sudbury Food Bank, says the organization is facing similar challenges.
Xilon says the food bank is seeing an average of 200 new users a week across the network of organizations it supports.
"A lot of them are people that are working at least partially, which is surprising," he said.
Xilon adds that some people who donated in the past are no longer able to do so because of changes to their financial situation.
He says the food bank has managed to keep up with demand so far this year, but he worries that might not last.
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