The Trenton Care and Share Food Bank is making an urgent call for support as it continues to deal with increased demand for its services.
In a press release, they say that since 2022, the number of people that utilized the food bank has doubled.
Speaking with Quinte News, general manager of the Trenton Care and Share Food Bank Craig Olivier says that there is an especially concerning trend.
“(It) seems to be increasing more so each month, just the amount of working families, people that are holding down jobs, maybe sometimes multiple jobs, that just aren’t able to make it through the end of the month, but paying with what they’re making to be able to put food on your table,” Olivier tells Quinte News.
“If you have a standard list that you shop for, you’ll notice that that price just seems to keep increasing onto itself, so people are just running out of disposable income,” Olivier explained.
“It’s just the pressure of the economics with what’s going on in this world.”
Olivier says the cost of goods is also having an impact on the food bank itself.
“Our cost per item is going up as we purchase as well, and you combine that with the fact there’s just more people looking for food assistance,” Olivier said.
“Obviously, we need more of that product in our building and it’s costing us more to bring it in.”
The increase in prices, Olivier says, has also led to fewer donors being able to support the food bank.
“Many of the people out there who were giving us, you know, $20, $50 a month and everything else, these donors have started to drop off because they just don’t have that extra money to donate to us right now,” Olivier said.
“So we’re losing some of our donor base as well because their financial budgets are being stretched.”
Olivier is asking residents that if they have more to give, to consider donating to the food bank.
Monetary donations can be made by heading to food bank’s website, while food donations can be made by going to 30 Pelham St. in Trenton.
