Local politicians had a hands-on experience on Sept. 22 at the EWCS food bank in Erin.
Volunteers with event sponsor Cargill, along with Erin Mayor Allan Alls, Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong, MPP Ted Arnott and food bank volunteers, swapped stories, sorted food and learned more about the importance of food banks to local communities.
It was a chance to learn about what hunger looks like in one’s own community.
East Wellington Community Services manager of community and volunteer engagement Barb Carscadden explained the MPP Food Sort event marked Hunger Awareness Week.
Carscadden said local politicians and representatives from Cargill were invited to take part, adding Cargill is Ontario’s official sponsor of Hunger Action Month.
Participants at the event first emptied a van of food, then weighed, sorted and stored the materials.
There was also the opportunity to learn more about the community garden, which grows fresh food for the food bank.
Carscadden said September marks the lowest time of year for supplies at the food bank.
One thing made clear during the event is that needs vary according to the community.
While one food bank may be geared to young single males clients, others may be geared to young families.
Locally, Carscadden said there are 310 individuals using the local food bank throughout the year.
Those individuals visited the local food bank about once each month, receiving about one week’s worth of groceries, Carscadden said.
She noted that last year, 40 per cent of food bank clients were children.
In addition, 89 Christmas hampers were distributed.
Carscadden said there are a lot of myths about who uses food banks.
Amanda King of the Ontario Association of Food Banks said, “in Ontario 335,000 adults and children visit food banks each month.”
“Something we really strive to do is raise awareness. I think hunger is very much an invisible issue. You can’t look at someone and know they are hungry,” King said.
She added the event originally began as Hunger Awareness Week, which is a nation-wide campaign.
But because Ontario food banks have so much going on to raise awareness, King said the campaign was expanded to Hunger Action Month.
“The primary goal of Hunger Action Month is to educate, volunteer, advocate and donate,” she explained.
Alls asked about the circumstances of those using the food banks.
Carscadden said, “It is a real mix and it is hard to categorize … there are so many individual reasons for being here.”
She said, “a lot of them are the working poor, who are out there working for wages that just do not make ends meet.”
Carscadden said there are also those who cannot afford rent and rather than not pay the rent, they come to the food bank.
“We also have many seniors who use the food bank, and many people on Ontario disability support payments.”
Examples of those using the Erin and Rockwood food banks include a young single mother who works full time, but after paying all the bills cannot always afford groceries.
Another young man, new to the area, used the food bank as a resource once or twice until he was able to get a job and establish himself.
King added the fastest growing group of individuals using the food bank are seniors struggling to survive on limited incomes.
She noted that over 60% of the food distributed by the Ontario Association of Food Bands is either fresh or frozen and distributed equitably among its members throughout the province based on community needs.
Arnott commented that a few years ago, there was a private member’s bill passed to provide a tax credit to farmers who donated to local food banks.
He asked if that has worked well for food banks. King said it has. She noted Ontario egg farmers donate 144,000 dozen eggs every year, while dairy producers donate over a million litres of milk each year.
The provision of a tax benefit goes a long way in helping local farmers making those donations, King said.
