'We are basically out of food,’ Sudbury foodbank warns

The Sudbury Food Bank is helping a record number of people in its 35-year history as demand for help with food insecurity soars.

While still able to help, officials said Tuesday that the food bank has much less food to give. In fact, there are empty pallets that are normally stacked with food.

“We are pretty much out of food,” said Dan Xilon, the executive director of the Sudbury Food Bank.

"We have got a little bit left. Basically, there is not enough food coming in and there is more and more people using the service … There is no way to sugar coat it,"

Xilon said the Sudbury Food Bank is still helping all 44 member agencies but there is less food to go around.

"We haven't stopped anything at the frontline,” he said.

“It’s just that we have to be a little more stricter about it. You might be getting two cans of vegetables as opposed to three … We are not sending people away with nothing, we are just having a little bit of a difficult time.”

There is a record number of people in need, officials said, with more than 17,000 requests for help each month with no sign of that changing.