Canadian food bank sees surge in clients amid pandemic-related food insecurity
Neil Hetherington, CEO of The Daily Bread Food Bank, works in the warehouse in Toronto on March 18, 2020.The number of new clients using Toronto’s food banks has tripled during the pandemic, according to a report that shows worsening food insecurity and hunger in the city.
Prior to the pandemic, many in Toronto were living paycheque to paycheque, and were close to being unable to pay their rent, Mr. Hetherington said. Now, owing to lost jobs and reduced working hours during the COVID-19 crisis, “we have this tsunami of evictions that is just months away.” Of the new clients surveyed, 76 per cent said they began using food banks primarily because of job losses or a reduction in working hours arising from the pandemic. About 28 per cent of all respondents said they were receiving the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit , but still needed to use food banks owing to the high cost of living in Toronto.
“There’s a saying that food insecurity is not a food issue, it’s an income issue,” Mr. Hetherington said. “The cost of living in the city is just so dramatic that it takes quite an income to be able to get by.”
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