As the price of groceries increases, so does the number of Canadians facing food insecurity.
This reality is seen clearly in places like the Blind River Emergency Food Bank, which has seen a record number of people access its services this year. Now entering the third month of 2024, the organization has already served 168 households.
According to the food bank's vice chair, Brenda Ludgate, and chair, Steven Wells, the numbers have been consistently high since Christmas, with 44 households or 150 people coming in on just one day in December.
“In the old days, when we would have ten households a day, that was a lot,” says Ludgate. Now we're getting up to thirty or 40 households [in a day].” Wells adds that a single household could represent a single person or a family of eight.
The increasing trend didn’t just start, and it's not just in Blind River that more people are needing help from food banks. On average, Wells says most food banks saw a 30% increase from 2022 to 2023. And according to a Statistics Canada study, the number of Canadians who were food insecure jumped from 16 per cent in 2021 to 18 per cent in 2022, which is approximately seven million Canadians.
Additionally, Wells explains that many people, especially seniors, don’t have a car or can’t afford the price of gas, meaning they can’t drive to areas outside the community, with stores like Walmart offering lower prices.
To continue helping the community, in addition to donors, the Blind River Food Bank runs a Yard Sale every Tuesday and Saturday to raise funds to keep its doors open. People donate household items, which the Food Bank then sells at an inexpensive price.
“You get a lot of good quality items that are used but in good condition,” Ludgate says.
The Blind River Food Bank operates every Thursday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
