28K food hampers heading to Hamilton to help food banks during COVID-19

Pallets packed with thousands of food hampers are heading to Hamilton where they'll be handed over to the hungry.

Hamilton Food Share is preparing to accept 28,000 hampers funded by the province in partnership with Feed Ontario, which launched anEmergency Food Box Program Wednesday to help food banks meet increased demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This initiative is a Herculean effort in the fight against hunger by Feed Ontario to produce a finished product ready to be deployed directly into our community" stated Joanne Santucci, Food Share's executive director, in a media release.

"Currently during this crisis, our need to feed this communitydepends on space, food, and friends and today we are so grateful to have all three."

Each hamper offers a variety of non-perishable food including protein.

The hampers will be distributed to food banks with the Emergency Food Network,hot meal programs and those stuck at home and in need of food delivery, the release adds.

Local donations can also be added to the boxes and larger families are permitted to pick up more than one.

The first truckloads of hampers have already arrived.

Food Share is anticipating such a large number of hampers it's teamed up with ED Modular in Stoney Creek to find enough space to store them all.

"We love to help the communities that we work and build in," explained director Xavier Toby in a media release.

ED Modular is opening up nearly 10,000 square feet of warehouse space to act as overflow once the donations start rolling in.

"Donating our space to support Hamilton's food banks was an easy decision as every little bit counts during these tough times," Toby added.

Food Share says in atypical month itserves more than 13,000 people, including 5,000 children.

The charity also recently started offering emergency food deliveries and hot meals to high-risk people stranded at home because of COVID-19.

Mayor Fred Eisenbergercheered the partnership that will deliver thousands of donations to Hamilton.

"This is an excellent example of non-profits, government partners, and businesses working together to provide much-needed assistance to our communities."