Latest news with #foodbank
CTV News
17 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
Food bank faces record demand and donation decline as summer pressures mount
FILE - In this 2018 photo, kids eat lunch at an elementary school. (Ellen O'Nan/The Paducah Sun via AP) As the summer season begins, the Barrie Food Bank reports record-breaking demand for assistance at a time when donations are typically at their lowest. In May, donations to the food bank were down $13,000 compared to the same time last year, while client visits continue to rise. 'May brought 7,460 visits, a record high for us,' said Karen Shuh, executive director with the Barrie Food Bank. Shuh said the surge in demand includes a growing number of children and seniors. Last month, the food bank served nearly 2,600 children under 18 and more than 330 seniors - both new records. "We're seeing more and more people accessing our services due to job loss, reduced hours, rising rent, mortgage renewals and the general cost of living," the executive director added. Shuh highlighted that food insecurity can happen to anyone. 'Many are first-time visitors who never imagined needing a food bank, which is becoming a growing theme." With school now out, the food bank expects need to continue rising as many families will face additional expenses like daycare and summer camp. Recognizing the growing need to support children during the summer break, Food Banks Canada stepped in with support through its 'After the Bell' program - so for the first time, Shuh said Barrie would receive funding to provide nutritious, child-friendly food packs to local children in need. And Shuh said it couldn't have come at a better time. 'The summer months are historically lean for donations.'
CBS News
2 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Stockton's Emergency Food Bank continues to serve despite 3 fires in a week
Stockton's Emergency Food Bank went from serving food to scooping ashes for a third time in the past week after an overnight fire. "Somebody threw a incendiary device into our piles of cardboard," Community Relations Manager Alesha Pichler said. "It was actually a bundle of cardboard and started that fire. It's been quite the week." The second fire was caused by leftover smoldering ashes, burning parts of their garden the following day. "It started last Wednesday when some unhoused population residents that lives right behind us needed to start a fire for some reason," Pichler explained. "Unfortunately, the weather conditions were such that the wind kind of took over and continued to burn the dry grass, burning up a tree and coming over onto our property." The third blaze ignited at 3 a.m. Wednesday and damaged an entire shipping container with thousands of dollars worth of donations. "There were 18 pallets of donated items and goods that were to go out to the community that now are basically garbage, because we can't give that out," Pichler said. But despite the flames, the food bank is rising from the ashes by continuing to serve hundreds of those in need. "We didn't stop operations. We continue to give out the food that the community needs to survive. We couldn't do it without our volunteers. We're grateful for them and now here they are helping us with the cleanup efforts," she said. Now, they're hoping the community can also help them so they can continue to help others. "Any time there has been a call for help, maybe we're short on turkeys, or we're short on food, or we have no food, the community always comes together," Pichler continued. "If you can do a food drive at your place of business or amongst friends, please give us a call. If you just want to do a monetary donation, please just log on to our website."
ABC News
3 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Narre Warren food bank feeding thousands faces closure over council permit decision
A food bank helping to feed up to 7,000 people a week in Melbourne's south-east says it may be forced to shut its doors — an apparent victim of its success. As demand surged, so too did attention from the local council. At a council meeting last week, the City of Casey granted the food bank a permit to continue operating – but only under strict conditions. These include limits on delivery traffic, waste storage, car parking, and a ban on sales from its op-shop — a move founder Kelly Warren said would be difficult to meet. "Our Op-shop next door, where everything is only $1, goes back to the people … It allows us to pay the cost of running Bk 2 Basics and also buying food," Ms Warren said. The food bank has become a critical safety net in a region facing some of Victoria's highest poverty rates. More than 56,000 people in the City of Casey live below the poverty line, with a poverty rate of 16 per cent. For former client Kate O'Sullivan, the help she received from the food bank a decade ago is something she has not forgotten. "It was the best thing I ever did," Ms O'Sullivan said. "I couldn't even afford to buy food for my daughter, and as a mum, that's the hardest thing." In a written statement to the ABC, a City of Casey spokesperson said it "[aims] to support Bk 2 Basics in continuing their valuable service to the community". The council noted the charity's building in Vesper Drive had expanded since 2019 and was located in an Industrial 3 Zone, where a permit was required for the food bank to operate safely. "[The approved conditions] ensures the community members who access the services delivered by Bk 2 Basics can do so safely," the statement said. Bk 2 Basics plans to take its case to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) in hopes of overturning the council's permit conditions. But with legal fees mounting, the charity is asking for help through an online fundraiser. "It's between $10,000 to $15,000, which is a lot of money, because we've already spent over $50,000 trying to get this permit," Ms Warren said. "We want to just continue to run." Meanwhile, despite the uncertainty, Bk 2 Basics will continue to operate while it pursues a VCAT hearing.
BBC News
4 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Lancaster and Morecambe foodbanks seeing drop in donations
Food banks across the Lancaster district have said they have seen a "drastic drop" in food donations despite "more need".Volunteers and community leaders are now appealing to the public to continue to support foodbanks with regular donations if they are able Phipps, from the Lancaster District Food Justice Partnership, a non-profit organisation that works to reduce food poverty across the district, said it supported more than 1,600 households each month."Even a donation of one item would make a massive difference," she said. 'Squeeze on income' Foodbanks are seeing "a bit more need" and "quite a drastic drop" in donations, she said."Food prices are high, so we do understand that it's really difficult for people. And we are incredibly grateful for the donations and support that the foodbanks receive in our collection bins in the supermarkets."Briony Scott, foodbank manager at Morecambe Bay Foodbank, said: "We are extremely grateful for all the donations of both food and money, especially at this time of rising food prices and the continued squeeze on income from the wider cost of living pressures."We are using our financial donations to purchase food to make up this shortfall but any additional food donations would be really appreciated."In the first four months of 2025, Morecambe Bay Foodbank sent emergency food parcels to 1,415 adults and 834 food parcel feeds people for four to five days to help them through a time of Mann, project manager at The Olive Branch foodbank in Lancaster, said the charity was currently seeing a high level of need that had risen over said: "From January to April this year, we have been averaging 324 food parcels per month."This amounts to around 45,000 food items given out."However, donations of food for this period are 9% lower than the same months last year and 33% lower than in 2022." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Bridgnorth Foodbank costs rise as donations fall
A food bank has had to increase the amount it spends to top up food parcels after seeing donations halve in recent Bird, who runs Bridgnorth Foodbank, said in some weeks the volunteers were having to go to the shops and spend up to £1,000 to get the extra said she understood the rising cost of living was having an impact and she was looking for other sources of also said the food bank, which was established in 2013, would "never" stop offering aid, but might have to "stop doing certain things if we haven't got the funding". Keith Bowley, the food bank's treasurer, said he went out twice a week to buy items to supplement the parcels, including fresh produce, and he had previously been spending between £400 and £500 a had increased to between £700 to £800 a week he said, but in some weeks it was as high as £1,000."Hopefully that will decrease as donations of food increase again," he said.A typical food parcel offered by the food bank includes items worth £40 for a single person, ranging to £70 for a family of recent months the situation has been made worse by an increase in the number of people seeking Bird said: "It does cost a lot of money to run a food bank, people don't realise how much it costs." Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
