2 Articles: 1) Barrie Food Bank Launches Bold Holiday Campaign To Fight Hunger Surge; 2) Number Of People Using Ontario Food Banks Rose 38 Per Cent Last Year: Report
1)Barrie Food Bank Launches Bold Holiday Campaign To Fight Hunger Surge
ReleasePublished, Courtesy of Barrie360.com: Nov 30th, 2023
News release – Barrie Food Bank
Our Targets: The Barrie Food Bank has set its most aggressive target to date to keep pace with the surge in people seeking emergency food support.
It is looking to raise $1 million and 500,000 lbs of food with its 2023 Holiday Campaign. The Holiday Campaign kicks off on Thursday, November 30th and runs until the end of December.
The need for food support has surged over the last year with the number of individuals now
supported each month hitting almost 7000 – double what it was just a year ago.
- In October, the Barrie Food Bank assisted 6,946 individuals, marking a significant +94%
increase from last October. - Out of the total, 731 were first-time visitors, reflecting a growing need in our
community. - Children make up 30% of the recipients.
- In October, the Barrie Food Bank provided 592 Emergency Food Services for individuals
experiencing homelessness/ needing extra support between monthly shops – more than
triple from last October.
Executive Director, Sharon Palmer says “We are seeing more employed people than ever before, more large families, seniors, and more people on government support programs like Ontario Disability Support Payments or Ontario Works. The number of visits from people without housing and living rough has tripled since last year. The high cost of living, lack of affordable housing, stagnant wages, and government support programs that have failed to keep pace with inflation for years, are causing more people in our community to turn to the Barrie Food Bank to make ends meet.”
The focus of the Holiday Campaign is to collect both financial donations and food donations, as well as toiletries, diapers, and feminine hygiene products.
The Holiday Campaign helps keep the shelves stocked throughout winter.
Most Needed Items: Canned meats, cereal, nut butters, canned soups, stews, Ensure or similar protein supplements, healthy school snacks, and hygiene products.
Financial Donations: On-line donations can be made at BarrieFoodBank.org or cheques can be mailed to P.O. Box 145, Barrie Ontario L4M 4S9, or delivered to 42 Anne Street S., Unit 2 Monday to Friday 8:30 to 3:30. Tax receipts are provided.
Drop-Off Points: Local grocery stores: Zehrs, Loblaws, No-Frills, Metro, FreshCo, Food Basics, Sobeys, Wholesale Club, Costco. Many stores are selling pre-packed bags to make it easy to shop for the Barrie Food Bank.
You can also drop off non-expired, non-perishable items at the Barrie Food Bank at 42 Anne Street South, behind Pioneer Family Pools. (Entrance for food donations is located at the end of Army, Navy, Airforce Drive.) Food Donations are accepted Monday to Friday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.
ABOUT BARRIE FOOD BANK
Founded in 1984 on the principles of community compassion, the Barrie Food Bank has been a pillar of support dedicated to alleviating hunger in the Barrie area. Playing a crucial role in supporting the most vulnerable members of our community, our vision is “a community where no one is hungry”. With the support of volunteers, donors, and community partners, we continue to grow, adapt, and innovate to address the evolving challenges of hunger. As we face a surge in first-time food insecurity, the Barrie Food Bank remains committed to its mission of providing food relief at no cost to individuals and families in our community, and supporting them on their journey towards well-being.
2)Number Of People Using Ontario Food Banks Rose 38 Per Cent Last Year: Report
Courtesy of Barrie360.com and Canadian PressPublished: Nov 27th, 2023
Toronto
A report released today indicates the number of people who used Ontario food banks went up 38 per cent last year, which it says is the largest single-year increase recorded by the province’s food bank network.
The new report by Feed Ontario, a collective of hunger relief organizations, says more than 800,000 people in the province turned to emergency food support between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023.
It says the total number of visits to food banks also rose similarly in that time, totalling more than 5.9 million, or 36 per cent more than the previous year.
The report says much of the growth came from first-time visitors, who accounted for two out of five people who used food banks. It notes that’s a 41 per cent increase from the previous year.
The document says food bank usage has gone up for the last seven years in a row.
It points to precarious work, the erosion of social support programs and a lack of affordable housing as longstanding factors, with the skyrocketing cost of living as a more recent contributor.
The report says food bank use has continued to rise even though the unemployment rate returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2022.
It notes more workers are turning to food banks, with one in six food bank visitors citing employment as their main source of income in the period covered by the report. That represents a 37 per cent increase over the previous year and an 82 per cent increase over 2016-17, the report says.
“It used to be that having a job meant that you would not need to access a food bank,” Feed Ontario’s chief executive officer, Carolyn Stewart, wrote in a statement.
“This is no longer the case. Working Ontarians are having trouble earning enough income to afford today’s cost of living, even when working multiple jobs or trying to cut expenses.”
Patricia is the Business Mentor and owner of Grow Vantage and a Past President of the Barrie Chamber of Commerce. She applies over 30 years of business experience (from start-up to corporate) to mentor entrepreneurs. Since 2011, she has held over 6,500 coaching and training sessions in-person and online. Through Ask For Directions Training, her entrepreneurial training program (and parent company Grow Vantage), and as a business coach, she works with start-ups who are new (or who have lost traction) to design, launch and grow their businesses. Along with 20 other expert instructors she teaches strategies in marketing, sales, communications, and finance, as well as practical techniques to increase productivity, and manage their businesses. In other words, everything entrepreneurs need to learn to grow and run their businesses successfully, and avoid the costly mistakes they can't even see coming - that lead to delays in growth and getting stuck.
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