FOOD BANKS SEEING MORE CLIENTS, FEWER DONATIONS

IMPACT OF RISING FOOD COSTS TAKING A TOLL

Food banks across Fort Erie are feeling the strain of rising food prices.

A combination of more people needing to use their services, less donations, and higher food prices is making it a challenge for the food banks to keep up.

"We have had to up our voucher amounts for people because of the costs going up in the grocery stores and I mean everything that's gone up. So we do what we can," said Mandy Crosby, assistant manager at Community Outreach Program Erie (COPE).

COPE tries to provide all clients with both vouchers to help cover the cost of food and items from their pantry. Recently though, they've had to give clients just the voucher because they haven't had food to give out.

"It has been hard to keep food in here the last few months. The summertime is usually our worst time for having food just because kids are out of school and people are away and stuff like that," said Crosby.

COPE never asked for food donations, so they rely heavily on the kindness of the community to help them keep their pantry stocked.

"We don't solicit at all. We never have, we never would. But people will contact us and ask us 'what do you guys need the most,'" explained COPE manager Barb Volzke. "People are good. They'll just show up with bags of food."

Ann Waters, manager of the Salvation Army Family Services in Fort Erie, says their data on clients has shown clear trends of increased need in the past several months.

"It's showing that we're starting to go up with the number of households and the number of individuals coming in, and the numbers of second visits is actually rising quicker than people coming for the first visit," explained Waters.

Each visit to the Salvation Army food bank provides an individual with enough food to feed them for around three days to a week.

"We're not supposed to be the answer for the month. We're supposed to be the help to get over the hump to get through the month," added Waters.

One client at the Salvation Army food bank in Fort Erie said she's been using their resources more often over the past several months to help support her family. By having access to staple items like pasta, she said it helps her to stretch her budget further than she would be able to otherwise.

Jeremy Tyrrell is a local pastor who has been volunteering at the Salvation Army food bank throughout the pandemic. He's seen how the community rallied around food banks to make sure they could offer support to those who need it during difficult times.

"I always am blown away by the generosity of people who come and make donations, whether that's financial, or bringing vegetables out of their garden, or whatever it is," said Tyrrell.

Waters says that donations have dropped of significantly lately, meaning any donation is greatly appreciated. But for those looking to go a little further, she suggests getting less frequently donated items like cereal, canned fruit and peanut butter alternatives that are safe for schools like almond butter.

"If you give it to your family, then it's something that we could use because we've got families coming in all the time," said Waters. "But if people would like to get more creative, having those other items is a real thrill for our people when they're receiving the food because you get tired of pasta after a while."

For those wishing to support COPE or the Salvation Army food bank, lists of their most wanted products can be found on online, or by calling the locations directly. Both organizations also said monetary donations are appreciated, as they allow them to purchase whatever items they need most at a given time.

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: With rising food prices across Ontario and locally, many are noticing the difference in cost at the grocery store. Brilee Sears spoke with local food bank managers, volunteers, and clients to see how these costs have impacted them.