With the Christmas season now upon us, local food banks will once again be strained with higher demand.
Carolyn Saunders, Food Bank Coordinator at the Listowel Salvation Army location, says they continue to see an increase in the number of people accessing their food services and annual Christmas hamper program.
"Last week we already hit close to what we finished at last year. We have our applications open for the hampers until December 11 in Listowel. Last month, in October, we had 94 households come through, which equals out to just shy of 300, so 297 individuals," Saunders shared.
Saunders also notes that they're even seeing an increase in dual income households coming through, with food prices being so expensive.
"So 129 of those individuals last month were children. So we're getting a lot of families coming in, as well, where the dynamic has changed, people who are working vs. not working. We're also seeing a lot of dual income households coming in, just because a lot of stuff is making it really unaffordable for people to make ends meet," noted Saunders.
With higher demand around holidays for food banks, especially Christmas, usually there is an increase in donations, but Saunders says that isn't always the case lately.
"Yes, there usually is an increase, but last year and this year we've definitely seen a bit of a decrease, as well. I think that might have to do with the rising food prices. Even the staple items that we used to see coming in have decreased, as well. So if you see something and it's on sale, and you wanna pick it up or call your local food bank and just ask them. I have a top 10 wish-list items that I publish each month on our Facebook page," said Saunders.
Many local food banks publish similar lists on their websites and Facebook pages. Listowel's, for example, can be found by clicking here.
Saunders says beyond donations, they're always looking for volunteers.
"We're always looking for people to man the Kettle Stations at our local grocery stores, and you can get in touch with Diane and Ray Homewood, they are the ones who organize that, so we're always looking for those positions to be filled, as well. This is a time when people are feeling more generous and as they're leaving the grocery store, they'll throw a couple bucks in, and if you don't have cash, we do have tap now so you can just scan your card," added Saunders.
The Christmas hamper program, which involves collecting donations of food and toys and putting them in hampers to distribute to local families, has become very popular among businesses and donors over the years. Saunders says there is still time to donate to that.
"If businesses are interested in doing the food or toy drive, many businesses contact us annually to do something like that. So we do our major pick up day on December 12, so we have volunteers helping us go around to all sorts of places around town, to pick up food and toys, and we distribute everything on December 19 and 20, so we do like to receive everything by December 12 because it gives us enough time to go through everything," Saunders concluded.
To donate to your local food bank, simply look them up online, call, or visit to get a list of things they're potentially in need of, or donate to a local Salvation Army representative posted outside of many local businesses this holiday season.
