Can you imagine waking up hungry? Or telling your children that there is nothing for dinner?
Household food insecurity is the inadequate or insecure access to food because of income or finances. It is a serious public health issue in Canada as one in eight Canadian households do not have enough money to buy sufficient nutritious food. For individuals living in food insecure households, there is greater likelihood of having or developing one or more chronic physical and/or mental health conditions.
Feed Ontario's 2022 Hunger Report stated " Between April 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022, over 587,000 people accessed a food bank in Ontario, visiting more than 4.3 million times. This marks a 15 percent increase and 42 percent increase respectively over the last three years and the sixth consecutive year that food bank use has risen. "
We believe this is shocking to hear that so many people in our community are struggling with food insecurity, especially considering that we live in a country that is ranked #3 country in the world for quality of life by U.S, News.
The COVID pandemic and raising food prices has not only negatively impacted individuals or families. It has also impacted level of donations to food banks because schools and offices are not participating in their usual food drives. Food banks are struggling to meet the growing demand for their services. Our mission is to help fill that gap. We love this quote from Hellen Keller "Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." Together we can help to address this important issue in our communities.
Donate to your local food bank today.
Feed Ontario is the province's largest collective of hunger-relief organizations. Together with food banks, industry partners, and local communities, we work to end hunger and poverty by delivering fresh and healthy food, developing innovative programming, and driving change through research and advocacy.