Food banks across Canada see a surge in demand with more than two million visits in one month
Food banks across the country experienced an unprecedented surge, with more than two million visits in just one month alone this year, the highest number in Canadian history.
This is according to the 2024 HungerCount Report released Monday by Food Banks Canada, a national charitable organization that supports a network of food banks.
“I never anticipated seeing this level of demand in my lifetime,” said Carolyn Stewart, chief executive officer at Feed Ontario. “We are at a tipping point.”
The report shows that the food bank system is buckling under the strain of increased demand. In the last year, nearly 30 per cent of banks across the network reported running out of food before meeting demand, while 56 per cent gave out less food than usual to avoid running out.
”The network (of food banks) isn’t designed to accommodate this really rapid increase in such a short period of time,” said Richard Matern, research director for Food Banks Canada and lead researcher for the report.
“We don’t have one good variable,” Stewart added. “All of the variables are moving in the wrong direction.”
The HungerCount Survey compiles data from 2,589 food banks across Canada. Food Banks Canada chooses March for this survey because it’s considered a “regular” month — no predictable spikes or dips in usage. This consistency helps them track trends year after year.
The number of employed people accessing food banks has reached an all-time high of 18.1 per cent. Historically, this figure hovered between 10 per cent and 12 per cent, but began to increase in 2022, driven by rapid inflation, according to Matern.
Children under 18 continue to make up at least 33 per cent of all food-bank clients, but experts say given the growth in food-bank usage, that’s almost 700,000 visits by children.
“Over the last several years, we’ve been talking about cracks in our system and now they are gaping holes and people are unfortunately falling into them,” Stewart said.
For Alex Bilotta, founder and CEO of the Food Bank of York Region, some programs may need to be cut completely in order to sustain others. “Just do the math,” he said. “There’s no way we can sustain this.”
One of the initiatives run by the York Food Bank is the School Pantry program, which partners with more than 20 elementary and high schools to ensure that students and their families have direct access to food when they need it.
“Every Wednesday the food truck does a delivery to our school. We have two large fridges and two large freezers and some dry storage space,” said Amanda Twedell, educational support staff at Keswick High School, and manager of the school’s food programming. Students can fill their backpacks with food, with other days open to families at a pick-up window. The school has also seen an uptick in participation in its hot breakfast program.
“Teachers are so concerned about food insecurity in their schools that they’re willing to donate their time to create a food pantry and volunteer to enter the data…so we know how many people are accessing food,” said Bilotta, “It saddens me.”
This article was first reported by The Star
