Adam Prudhomme
Editor
An estimated one in 16 people living in Loyalist Township and the Kingston area accessed Partners in Mission Food Bank over the last year.
That marked a noted increase from 2021-22, when that number was one in 24. Troubling as those numbers are, there’s reason to believe they’re only going to get worse.
“With the cost of inflation, food going up in groceries stores and everywhere else, it’s getting a little busy,” said Dan Irwin, director of Partners in Mission Food Bank, which serves the Kingston and Loyalist area. “We’re seeing an uptick for demand at our food banks across Ontario for sure.”
Irwin spoke to the Beaver following the release of the 2023 Ontario Hunger Report, which indicated 800,822 people accessed a food bank in the province between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023. That represented a 38 per cent increase over the last year. Of that total number, two out of every five had never visited a food bank before, an increase of about 41 per cent from the previous year. Pressures from the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with inflation rates not seen since the 1980s were listed as the biggest contributing factors. Using numbers dating back to the start of the pandemic, the number of people who sought help from an Ontario food bank has risen 60 per cent from the 2019-20, pre-pandemic year.
“When we look at our total number of people served (from April 2022 to March 2023) we helped 9,620 people, 3,624 were new. You’re talking about a third of them are new to us,” Irwin said of the local picture.
Though Canada’s fall economic report noted some improvements regarding inflation, the long term outlook is still very concerning.
“What we’re seeing in the world right now, nothing’s really improving dramatically,” said Irwin. “The pace of inflation has slowed somewhat, including grocery inflation, but it’s still pretty heavy. The cost of rent and mortgage payments have gone up as well with renewals. We are anticipating that we are going to see more and then talk about a potential recession coming makes us quite nervous. To be completely honest, we’re getting near capacity not only in Kingston, but across the entire network of food banks across the province. We’re all getting close to capacity trying to figure out what can we do to make sure that we keep serving people.”
With decreases in the amount of social supports over the last seven years, food banks continue to turn to their communities for support.
Irwin says now more than ever they’re calling on anyone in a position to give to do so this holiday season. For every dollar donated, 93 cents goes to a food hamper, allowing Partners in Mission to purchase what is needed most at a particular time.
Online donations can be made at KingstonFoodBank.ca or at one of 16 donation bins at grocery stores across Kingston or Loyalist.
In Napanee, the Salvation Army Food Bank is always accepting donations as well. They can be made online at SalvationArmy.ca or at 81 Dairy Ave. in Napanee.