Windsor food banks are seeing more families and seniors seeking help as rising living expenses stretch household budgets and summer donations fall. The Downtown Mission says its food bank provided groceries to 683 households representing 1,173 people in July. Executive Director Rukshini Ponniah-Goulin said the number of people accessing the service has increased compared with previous years, with young families becoming a more common sight in the food bank line. “On Friday, I was walking into the Mission after a meeting in the early afternoon, and there was a young family with three children in line,” she said. “That’s always heartbreaking to see.” Ponniah-Goulin said the Mission is also helping more seniors who need additional support as rent and other expenses rise. For some, she said, receiving groceries from a food bank can provide enough financial breathing room to remain housed rather than eventually requiring shelter services. “It’s our way of helping people stay housed who are either recently housed or in a difficult situation in their life,” said Ponniah-Goulin. “Coming to a food bank and getting some food is a little bit of extra stability for them.” The Mission’s food bank operates entirely through donations and does not receive dedicated funding, according to Ponniah-Goulin. The pressure is being felt across the region. The UHC Hub of Opportunities serves as the central hub for 15 food banks throughout Windsor-Essex. CEO June Muir said UHC is seeing approximately 300 visits on each day its food bank operates. “Everybody is seeing an increase in the number of visitors to a food bank,” said Muir. “There’s really no face to who utilizes the food bank. It could be your friends, your neighbours, your coworkers.” Muir said food banks are increasingly assisting people who are employed, along with seniors living on fixed incomes and returning clients who can no longer keep pace with grocery prices. “We’re just finding that food is the last thing that someone will purchase,” she said. “They’ll pay their rent, their utilities, and they’ll come to a food bank.” The need remains high throughout the summer, but both organizations say donations commonly decline while people are away or are not thinking about seasonal food drives. Muir said food banks often receive greater attention around Thanksgiving and Christmas, even though hunger does not follow a holiday calendar. “What I think about during the summer months is children — families that have children not having enough to eat,” she said. “That bothers me.” Ponniah-Goulin said demand among families typically rises during summer because children no longer have access to breakfast and snack programs offered through their schools. The Mission tries to stock additional cereal and child-friendly snacks beginning in late June, but those items can be difficult for some families to purchase themselves. “It’s kind of considered a luxury,” she said of snack foods. “It’s not a need. It’s a luxury item, unfortunately, for a lot of young children — and it shouldn’t be.” Higher demand and fewer donations can also leave food banks without everything they would normally include in a hamper. Muir said a complete UHC hamper is intended to contain three days’ worth of breakfasts, lunches and dinners. “Sometimes we don’t have all what we need to put in a hamper,” she said. “Sometimes we don’t have the meat, or we might not have the milk.” UHC also relies on rescued food, grocery-store collections, and community food drives. Muir said its food-rescue program recovered more than seven million pounds of produce last year. Some of that produce is exchanged with food banks farther along Highway 401 for non-perishable products that are less readily available locally. UHC also distributes fresh vegetables separately and uses some of the produce to make soup in its community kitchen. At the Downtown Mission, officials say their greatest needs currently include pasta, pasta sauce, macaroni and cheese, cereal, and canned protein. Ponniah-Goulin said the shortage of pasta is particularly unusual because the Mission typically has plenty in stock. The shortage is now forcing the organization to purchase pasta for meals prepared for shelter guests. “If we need to make pasta, even in our kitchen for our shelter guests, we’re having to go and buy it,” she said. Food bank donations can be delivered to the Downtown Mission. Financial contributions can also be made through its website.
