Food bank use has gone down 4.2 per cent from last year in Ontario, but has risen 14.2% since 2008 according to Food Banks Canada’s HungerCount 2015.
The organization also reported 18% of all people helped are from rural areas or small towns.
The Drayton Food Bank, which operates out of the Drayton Reformed Church, is looking for donations to put into Christmas hampers.
While the group purchases milk, eggs, cheese and turkey, they rely on community aid to fill the rest of the hampers.
“We quite often run out of sidekicks, hamburger helper, sugar, flour, that kind of stuff,” said food bank volunteer Shane Stege.
The Calvinist Cadet Corps from the Drayton Christian Reformed Church get a list of ages and genders of the children in need and collect toys.
Then, on Dec. 19, Stege and the cadets and volunteers put together the hampers and deliver them to approximately 30 families in Mapleton Township.
The hampers include everything a normal hamper has in it plus a turkey and pie or something extra, said Stege.
