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From the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal

Food banks caught in the middle as prices rise

Sarah Elizabeth Brown 06/28/2008

Food, gas and energy prices are soaring and more Ontarians are having a tougher time paying basic bills.

Caught in between are food banks, which are feeling the pinch of higher food and fuel prices as well as seeing more people coming to them for help.

“We‘re facing tremendous increases in food (prices),” said Larry Brigham, chairman of the Regional Food Distribution Association.

The RFDA receives shipments of donated food from southern Ontario and distributes it to the city‘s 23 food banks. As well, it uses monetary donations to buy items that are regularly in short supply, such as pasta sauce and baby food.

According to a report released Thursday by the Ontario Association of Food Banks titled “A Gathering Storm,” the trends are not yet severe, but most food banks are worried about the next year.

The number of people receiving food hampers from the city‘s 23 food banks rose more than 25 per cent in the last year alone – in March 2007 the figure was just under 4,000 people that month, said Brigham. In March 2008, it had risen to more than 5,000 people.

That‘s not including the 17,000 people given meals in March 2008 through programs at places like Shelter House and schools. Program organizers tell Brigham their numbers are up too.

A single person in Ontario now spends about $40 per week on groceries, up from the average of $27.50 a decade ago – an annual increase of $583. A family of three now pays $85 per week on food, or $1,188 more each year compared to 10 years ago.

In the last five years, heating fuel increased 89 per cent, according to the report, and gas prices have jumped 62 per cent in major Ontario centres.

Add to those numbers a forecasted 0.6 per cent increase in unemployment and a slowing or declining economy and the lines at food banks are sure to grow.

“A whole lot of people are only one paycheque away from being in this position themselves,” said Brigham, adding that he knows some people are having to choose between mortgage payments and food.

Food banks are spending more money than ever before for the same amount of food, the report says.

Last year, a record $465,000 worth of food went through the RFDA. This year, Brigham is hoping to get $750,000 in food.

Jay Dampier, director of Redwood Park Opportunities Centre, which has a food bank, says his organization sees the result of the price hikes.

He‘s seen a “pretty large increase” in food bank use and the high gas prices hit him every time he gases up the van to go pick up food from the RFDA or donated bread, fruit and vegetables from local grocery stores or to buy non-perishable items, which he gets nearly at cost.

The provincial food bank association reports prices for healthy foods like bread, milk, eggs and ground beef are going up far faster than those for processed items like drink crystals or weiners.

So far, that hasn‘t hurt the Redwood food bank too much, said Dampier, because the items it buys with financial donations are usually the processed, non-perishable items.

However, he‘s receiving less of the day-old bread and fruit taken off shelves due to bruises, and suspects it‘s because grocers are keeping less inventory and have less left over.

Despite that, Dampier says his organization isn‘t in bad shape. The food bank is associated with the Redwood Park Church, where he‘s a pastor. Blessed with a strong congregation “who really gets this kind of stuff,” he just has to put a mention in the church bulletin to see more jars of peanut butter or extra money.

However, “there‘s been weeks where it‘s pretty tight,” he said.

Four months ago, a family of four received seven or eight bags of groceries to easily last them a week. Now, the food bank is down to handing out four bags to last four or five days.

If food prices seem high in Thunder Bay, look further north to remote reserves. Calling food prices in those fly-in communities “astonishing,” the provincial report says prices there are on average 86 per cent higher than Canadian averages.

A loaf of bread in Sandy Lake is $4.17, while a one-kilogram bag of apples in Pikangikum is $7.65, compared with $2.43 and $2.95 elsewhere in the province.

Those communities, already struggling with poverty, have no access to food banks, Brigham said, adding residents there need to be consulted about possible solutions.

There are some small glimmers of hope in the city.

Dampier says in Brigham‘s first year at the helm of the RFDA, he‘s noticed a two- to three-fold increase in the amount of food being secured by the organization.

Also, the RFDA is $22,000 into raising $33,000 for a walk-in freezer and cooler that can each hold seven pallets – increasing the organization‘s ability to keep frozen and perishable food and distribute it when needed.

As well, the Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board, which oversees social assistance and disability payments, is now picking up the tab for transporting food from southern Ontario to the RFDA, said Brigham.