What to know
- Eighty-nine per cent of 1,610 organizations surveyed by Ipsos for Second Harvest said demand for food increased over the past year.
- That follows an 87 per cent increase reported the previous year, highlighting continued pressure on food-support organizations.
- One in three organizations currently has a waitlist for food programs, while 35 per cent have had to turn people away because of limited resources.
- Organizations are reporting difficulty accessing nutritious foods such as fresh produce, grains and protein as they try to meet growing demand.
- With Thanksgiving and the holiday season approaching, organizations say they need more support from governments, donors, grocery stores and farmers to keep up with demand.
Canadian non-profit organizations say they’ve seen an increase in demand over the past year, and many have been struggling to keep up.
A study conducted by Ipsos found that 89 per cent of 1,610 surveyed organizations in the Second Harvest Network said they’ve seen an increase in demand for food over the past year. The findings come as they had already reported a 87 per cent demand increase the year before.
“Every day through this work that we do, we see firsthand what [a] growing food crisis looks like — not in a report, but in the lives of real people, our neighbours. The demand for food assistance has increased tremendously,” Vivian N. Etuka, Founder and Executive Director of Bethel Outreach Community Services told Now Toronto.
“We are seeing working families, newcomers, refugees, seniors, single parents, international students, and people that you normally wouldn’t imagine that come to food banks… It’s way beyond an epidemic when it comes to food insecurity.”
Bethel Outreach Community Services is a Brampton-based organization that provides support to individuals and families facing systemic barriers, including food support. According to Etuka, the organization also relies on support from organizations like Second Harvest to keep up with demand.
Organizations struggling to keep up
Many of the respondents said they’ve been struggling to keep up with growing demand, and even had to reduce support.
One in three of the organizations said they have a waitlist going for food programs, while 35 per cent said they’ve had to turn people away due to lack of resources. Eighty-seven per cent of those who said they’ve turned people away said they had to do so because of insufficient food supplies.
The organizations that currently have a waiting list have on average 878 people waiting for support, while 41 per cent of those that turned people away said they were unable to support more than 50 people, with an average of 269 people being turned away.
With tremendously growing demand, Etuka said Bethel has also been facing difficulties in acquiring the amount of food needed to meet the demand, especially when it comes to making sure they can offer healthier options to those who need it.
“We’re giving [them] food but we want to still make sure that it’s healthy food because if you don’t give healthy food then it’s a bigger problem when it becomes a burden on our healthcare system,” she said.
“[We face] difficulties in getting things that we need, like grains, lentils, rice, peas, black-eyed peas, fresh produce, protein. The demand is quite high, and getting it has not been easy.”
According to her, the organization has been avoiding putting people on waitlists by relying on support from other non-profits, donations from grocery stores and other donors, and organizations like Second Harvest, which she said they now have to visit about twice a week.
With Thanksgiving and the holiday season coming up, Etuka said the organization is also struggling to gather enough supplies to support everyone coming to Bethel for help. To prepare, she said the organization has been taking advantage of sales, negotiating deals, and even stocking food months in advance.
“When you put that family on a waitlist, hunger is not waiting. She still needs to eat. He still needs to eat. Grandma needs to eat. Everybody needs to eat,” she said.
“This is how we are solving the problem. If this organization doesn’t have it, so we work as a team to make sure that we don’t say, ‘there’s a waitlist’ or say, ‘we don’t have enough to give you.’”
What is missing?
According to the study, 49 per cent of the organizations that responded don’t have access to federal, provincial, or regional food bank network services, with many of them instead relying on donations or deals with other organizations and suppliers to keep up with demand.
Besides more governmental support, Etuka said having extra support from donors, grocery stores, or farmers, especially when it comes to rescuing food from waste, could be a good way to help organizations cope.
“For instance… a lot of foods that are produced by farmers go to waste. It’s a large sum. So if those farmers can sign up to organizations like Second Harvest, who will rescue the food and redistribute the food to Bethel, to the Brampton Food Hub, that is great,” she said.
