Feed Ontario representatives visit Sudbury’s Food Bank

Feed Ontario’s 22 Hunger Report was released on Monday, saying that 600,000 people used food bank services in the past year.

On Thursday, officials with Feed Ontario made their way to Sudbury to elaborate on the findings and speak with local agencies that use the food bank’s services.

Officials said there were more than 4.3 million visits to food banks in the province between April 2021 and the end of March of this year.

Carolyn Stewart, with Feed Ontario, told CTV News food banks are designed to provide emergency support, but recent demands on food banks go beyond that.

She said some locations have become increasingly relied on to help fill gaps in social policies.

“Especially during the pandemic, we helped to facilitate emergency delivery of food,” said Stewart.

“Many people who thought they would never turn to a food bank were very much in need and so the food bank system was almost an emergency food system. But we’re not intended to be the Red Cross, we’re intended for individual emergencies.”

Those with the Sudbury Food Bank said the numbers in the report are alarming.

“The thing that strikes me is the number of people that are having to access food banks for the very first time … 42 per cent increase. It shows the need that we fill here,” said David Kilgour with the Sudbury Food Bank.

Our Children Our Future is one of the agencies in the community that helps provide food to families in need.

“They don’t know where to turn,” said Lynne Ethier, an official with the group.

“Sometimes they’ve exhausted every other means and we might be their last resort. We’re proud to be working with the Sudbury Food Bank to reach all those families and help them when they need it the most. The kids are hungry, we need to feed them.”

Feed Ontario said unless major changes are made to people’s income, food bank use will continue to increase.