'Camping for Cans' aims to help Sudbury area food banks

With a number of Canadians turning to food banks to deal with the high cost of living, an upcoming initiative organized by a Sudbury radio station aims to support the food bank.

Bell Media’s Pure Country 91.7 is hosting its inaugural 'Camping for Cans event Friday.

Pure Country Sudbury is 'Camping for Cans' at New Sudbury Centre on Friday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. April 14/23 (Dan Bertrand/CTV Northern Ontario)

Morning radio show hosts Brian Cooper and Josh Corbett will broadcast live from the Centre Court area at New Sudbury Centre mall from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., collecting non-perishable items and cash donations in the hopes to fill a tent.

All of the proceeds will go to the Sudbury Food Bank, which supports over 40 member organizations throughout the region.

"We wanted to do something that was not only a little bit different, but would still rally the community together," Corbett said.

Inflation has hit everyone hard and the Sudbury Food Bank is no exception.

"We know there’s a lot of people really relying on it to be able to put food on the table, so we wanted to do our part to help them out so that they can help other people out as well," Corbett said.

Inner City Home, a non-profit emergency food bank, is supported by community donations and the Sudbury Food Bank.

The president of Inner City Home, Joe Drago, said the number of people using its services has increased significantly over the past two years.

"Each and every day we have people coming in requiring food," Drago said.

"When you see serving over 70 families in a day, a couple times in a week, it really makes you wonder, are we getting better? Or are we getting worse?"

There have been occasions recently where the demand has exceeded supplies, he said, describing an instance where there was no food left, leaving staff to go out to buy groceries.

"When you get down to bare bottom and there’s people lined up on the porch and outside our other location in New Sudbury, you know that you have to get some food in a hurry," Drago said.

He adds that it’s heartbreaking to see so many children coming in with their parents.

But there’s also an increase in newcomers, he said, many who feel embarrassed to use the food bank's services.

"It’s really an embarrassment for some of them to come here and say 'I need food,'" he said.

"Especially for these new Canadians who are well educated and they come to a new country, they’ve been here for a few days, luckily have a place to stay, but have no money and no food."

Drago said there was a couple who came in recently, one was a doctor and the other was an engineer in their previous country, and both were looking for work.

"It makes you wonder 'What are we doing? Why can’t we speed things up so this doctor can practice?' We need doctors, this engineer can get a job so he can be helpful to our community," he said.

Drago said Inner City Home always welcomes non-perishable and monetary donations, but that financial donations can go a bit further.

CTV News Northern Ontario Weather Specialist Katie Behun and Sudbury's Pure Country's Julia Williams show off all the food collected at 'Camping for Cans' as of about 1 p.m. Friday. (Photo courtesy of Sudbury Pure Country)