As costs of groceries continue to soar, area food banks are seeing a substantial increase in usage.
Ardis Chedpore, manager of the Cochrane Food Bank, said she’s been seeing an upsurge in use over the last six months. The Cochrane Food Bank is a hub for Northern Ontario, allocating its resources to other nearby food banks including Iroquois Falls, Black River-Matheson, Smooth Rock Falls, Kapuskasing, Hearst, Timmins and South Porcupine.
“A lot more families with children. It's kind of gone from us doing our regular just kind of helping, to some people really depending on us because they have a choice between paying the rent or buying food,” she said.
Ruth Anthony, who's been a volunteer with the Matheson Food Bank for over a decade, said they have been experiencing a similar trend.
“We've had new clients register each month over the last, I’d say, four months. Not just one, but sometimes two or three at a time,” she said. “We have over 80 people on our list right now and it’s mainly young families with lots of kids.”
Both Chedpore and Anthony said that compared to last year around this time, numbers have drastically escalated. Chedpore said the current economy is mainly to blame.
“Especially with being in Northern Ontario, because we see higher prices because of shipping costs for most items. When you go to the grocery store and you see the price for milk, it's definitely hard for a family to try to keep up with those prices,” she said.
“Sometimes they just come here so we can help them out a little bit with the things that they might not be able to buy otherwise, and then we do have the other end of the spectrum where this is the only food source they're basically going to get.”
The housing crisis is another reason for the uptick in numbers, Chedpore said.
“There’s not a lot of housing so people are living on top of each other. When you get five people living in one little apartment, well, your hydro bill is going to be more, your water bill is going to be more, so you might not have that extra money for food,” she said
Both Anthony and Chedpore said as more people become in need of their services, the more they experience empty shelves.
“The community is very generous. But at the end of each food bank, we look at the shelves and we're just dismayed that shelves that were full at the beginning of the morning, are empty. It’s hard to keep the shelves stocked,” she said.
“And we're all seniors working it, so when we do get food, getting it down into the food bank and onto the shelves is the other hurdle.”
The Cochrane Food Bank works with Feed Ontario and also gets loads from retailers.
"We just got a shipment in, but before we got the shipment in today, I was looking pretty empty," Chedpore.
“But the public has really been a good supporter. And those that understand, you know, they've been there before, they're more than willing to help.”
Chedpore said they are in need of donations that are a little more simple.
“It's always great to have all these easy-to-make things, but you usually need added items. It's nice when you have pancake mix where it just needs water and then syrup for the pancakes, because that'll go a lot further for a family,” she said.
“Spaghetti sauce is another big one where we're able to make sure that a family can have a full meal. Then we also need things like jams, jams are really good, especially for school-aged children, and all the little snacks for kids, that's really important too because sometimes that's all they're getting in the day. Just those kinds of items that are easy to put with other things. Kraft Dinner is great, but again, that can be a little bit more difficult because then we have to make sure that these people have the butter and the milk.”
Chedpore said they have been putting together recipes to help people using the food bank to get creative and resourceful.
“Sometimes people do big food drives and we get all these cake mixes. That's great, but then need a binder. So, most people don't have eggs or can’t afford eggs — eggs are extremely expensive — so we've been trying to do some like little recipe things to tell people like okay, you can make a cake with applesauce. That'll bind it the same way eggs would. You still need the applesauce, but it's a lot cheaper,” she said.
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A lot of people are too prideful to get assistance from a food bank, Chedpore said.
“I think it's important to note that everybody needs help at some point and they shouldn't shy away from asking for that help, because eventually we're all usually able to return the favour,” she said.
“People who have used the food bank resources, they usually donate in the future. So it's kind of like a nice, full circle. So, please do not be prideful about asking for help if you need it.”
The Cochrane Food Bank can be contacted by calling 705-272-4300, while the Matheson Food Bank can be contacted at 705-272-9225.
