Seniors increasingly turning to food banks to eat
Food bank use among Ontario's senior citizens has spiked dramatically in the past year, according to a new report released Monday.
The latest Hunger Report from the Ontario Association of Food Banks indicates the number of senior citizens using food banks spiked by 35 per cent. That's a dramatic increase, but it's not surprising to people like Louis Doutsas, who uses the Downtown Mission in Windsor far more often than he used to.
After his rent is paid, he's left with about $600 or $800 a month.
"That's not a lot of money these days," he said. "I don't think I would have made it without some help from the community. When things get tough you got tolive day to day, moment to moment."
Nearly 360,000 people visited food banks in March 2015 with 120,000 of those being children under the age of 18, according to the Hunger Report.
Numbers at the Downtown Mission in Windsor mirror the provincial figures. The food bank handed out 242,000 bags of food last year, up from the 145,000 bags needed in 2013.
Hot meals too have spiked. Last year, the Mission's average number of hot meals reached 245 a day, which is up dramatically from the 100 meal a day average five years earlier.
The story is strikingly similar in Windsor's east end at Drouillard Place. The number of clients using the bustling social service centre has increased by 30 per cent, according to Ken Smith who oversees the food bank.
Despite the increase, his team works hard to ensure people in need get what they need.
"I have never turned anyone away," Smith said. "One way or another, we will find food."
Increases in Ontario's food bank use climbed significantly during the recession and they haven't dropped since. Across the province, the number of visits to food banks remains 14 per cent higher than figures recorded in 2008, according to the latest Hunger Report.
This trend continues across the country as well with food bank use remaining 26 per cent higher when compared to pre-recession figures.
