Toronto food banks face empty shelves amid record demand, advocates warn

When Julie LeJeunecame into Fort York Food Bank on Sunday to take stock of its supplies, the executive directorrealized she had a crisis on her hands.

About 450people came inSaturday alone, she says,leaving the food bank, which is closed Mondays,without enough staplesto reopen on Tuesday.

"We don't have anything to put on our shelves," said LeJeune.

"I have not seen us be completely out of staples like this."

Thanks to adesperate plea for donations and a huge response from the community, the food bank now hasenough supplies to openits doors at College Street west of Bathurst Street as usual Tuesday. But it doesn't haveenough to serve the number of clients staffexpect to show up.

LeJeune isn't the only one seeingan unprecedented increase in users. There are now 160,000 client visits per month across the city, according to the Daily Bread Food Bank, up from60,000 two years ago. Food banks saw 5,700 new clients last month a record, Daily Bread says.Advocates say increased donationsaren'tmatching the need due to rising grocery costs and continued challenges like a lack of affordable housing and low rates for social serviceslike the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP).

While this week's crisis was acute, it's not an isolated problem, says LeJeune.

The Fort York Food Bank has had milk, potatoes and several other items, butcanned tuna, rice, pasta, beans andcanned vegetables food bank staples with a long shelf life were down to almost nothing, she says.

Too often lately, staff havehad to give clients one can of a protein-rich food like tuna, when they would have hoped to give two, she says, but thisshortage was unprecedented and the timing couldn't have beenworse.

"Tomorrow's a special day. We're reopening for the first time in two years to have clients come back inside," she told CBC News on Monday.

Since the pandemic began, the food bank was only providing people in needwith ready-made bags, a decision that meant clients couldn't pickitems they might prefer, something that wasn'tideal, she says.

Not sure whatto do, she began to tweet about the food bank's needs and emailed Coun. Mike Layton, who represents the ward where the food bank is located, to spread the word.

Community members who had seen the tweets began arriving on foot, by bike and car on Monday withitems on LeJeune's list. But even as the donations arrivedthroughout the day, at the other door, clients who had not realized the food bank was closedcame by, hoping for anything at all to tide their households over.

"Our numbers are going up every day. We register new clients daily," LeJeunesaid.

And while the food bank is grateful for the support it received Monday, heading into the summer, ittraditionally struggles, she says, adding donations can be dropped off most mornings, including Tuesday.

Challenges for food banks across the city

Given the increase in users during the pandemic, the Daily Bread Food Bank, which serves 170 food banks and food programs, has had to almost triple the amountit's distributing, its CEO says.

Food banks like Fort York Food Bank get some of their food from Daily Bread Food Bank and some from direct community donations, which can come in the form of food or cash, says Neil Hetherington.

Food banks often purchase supplies at least a month in advance based on user estimates, Hetherington says.But he adds they mustpurchase much more to make up for the shortfall created by a record number of users andhave also been hit with rising costs and supply chain challenges.

"Most of the people that we serve on fixed income are underwater every single month," he said, but "more and more, we're seeing individuals who never used to come to a food bank."

Despite the challenges, he wants everyonein need to visitand feel assured they will be provided with enough food.

'We want action'

"We know the causes of why there are more people coming to food banks," saidHetherington.

Itcomes from a lack of affordable housing, people needingtwo or three jobs tomake ends meet and paymentssocial programs like ODSP being too low, he says.

He says the Daily Bread Food Bank wants to see all candidates talk about these issues in the upcoming Ontario election.But the fact thatpeople are talking about food insecurity and affordable housing as much as they are right now is giving him hope, he adds.

Layton,who dropped off abag of staplesMonday at Fort York Food Bank,echoes Hetherington's sentiments..

The city councillor saysthe provincial election provides an opportunity to raise the volume on these concerns.

"There are real fixes to the systemic problems here. Most of them start at the provincial level," Layton told CBC News.

"And we need to make sure that the candidates running for office understand that we want action."