Inflation cuts the Food Bank of Waterloo Region's buying power: $1 now only buys 2 meals

The Food Bank of Waterloo Region says just like the people it serves, it's feeling the impact of inflation and high food costs. Now one donation dollar provides two meals instead of three.

"Everything that we are doing here at The Food Bank of Waterloo Region really is affected by inflation," interim CEO Kim Wilhelm told CBC News.

"The price of gas affects how much we are paying to put gas in our trucks and those trucks are going to community programs and agency partners every single day — over 120 in the community."

She said gas prices also impact how partner agencies donate to the food bank. She said some agencies who would normally deliver food donations to them have asked the food bank to do the pick up, instead.

"They're happy to provide the product, but they're not able to deliver it anymore. That's another example, where the price of gas has affected us across the board," she said. 

Donations as a whole, she adds, are "absolutely down" from bins in grocery stores to the corporate side, meaning the food bank has had to purchase more food to support families accessing their services.

"We're finding we're having to purchase so many more options of food this year than we ever had before," she said.

More people, families in need

Wilhelm says the Food Bank of Waterloo Region, like many across the province, has seen more people and families in need of their services. 

In Waterloo region, one in 14 families have used food bank programs in 2022, compared to one in 20 in 2021, according to an annual report by the Food Bank of Waterloo Region.

In Feed Ontario's most recent hunger report, — an organization made up of 1,200 partner food banks — between April 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022, more than 587,000 people in Ontario accessed a food bank, with more than 4.3 million visits.

"When you consider the price of gas, the price of grocery, the high cost of housing, all of those are contributing to more and more individuals accessing food assistance programs," Wilhelm said. 

The Feed Ontario report also highlights that though food banks are are working to meet the demand, a recent survey of 140 food banks revealed similar trends to that experienced by the Food Bank of Waterloo Region: two thirds have experienced a decrease in food donations and one in five haven't been able to purchase the same volume of food due to higher food prices.

Volunteer Michele Gorel says she's also seen an increase in the number of people reaching out for help.

Gorel has been volunteering with the food bank since 2017 building hampers for families in need and putting together fresh food orders for the Community Food Assistance Network.

"Pre-pandemic to now, people are struggling, whether it be seniors on a fixed income or double-income earners and they're just maybe a little bit short and they need the services," Gorel said. 

As demand rises, the food bank has added more volunteer shifts to help build more hampers, she said.

"There's definitely the need and with the perishable orders as well the need is there. The food comes in and it's gone," Gorel adds. 

Wilhelm said adequate funding to social support programs and making housing more affordable for people would go a long way to address the food insecurity in the province.

"Collectively, we need to come together as a community and work with our partners to do more and we've been having conversations across the county about how we can make our voices heard," she said.

Sounds of the Season is our annual holiday fundraiser in support of The Food Bank of Waterloo Region. Our goal is to raise money, donations and awareness for those facing food insecurity in Kitchener-Waterloo.