These are tough times for many people and organizations, including food banks.
Chair of Gleaners Food Bank Board of Directors Matt Brown told Belleville council that not only
Gleaners, but many other food banks, were hit by a “perfect storm” in 2022.
The need for food banks has never been higher yet donations of both food and money were down significantly.
Brown said in Gleaners’ main event, the October food drive, only 5.5 tons of food was collected. In other years
the drive collected at least 25 tons. 2022’s collection was almost 80% less than usual.
Brown said with the cost of food and other basics going up rapidly residents didn’t feel as generous as usual.
However, in December, the community came through with both cash and food and what had been projected as a $200,000 deficit for Gleaners will be significantly lower.
Brown says Gleaners expected 33% more visits from people this year than last, adding that many people are “chronic users” of the facility, coming back every three weeks for food basics to try and make ends meet.
“We need a systemic change in the operation of food banks now. We aren’t just a temporary “stop-gap” service to help people over a rough patch.
We hope local, provincial, and federal governments get more involved and we’ll need to develop more and different relationships in the community.”
Councillor Paul Carr agreed, saying senior governments need to get involved and provide people with enough income to live in “today’s world.”
