The skyrocketing cost of food is just one more hurdle for those seeking assistance from Sarnia's Inn of the Good Shepherd.
Executive Director Myles Vanni said it's hard to overcome.
"The challenge is going to be pretty strong over the next little while as we see prices go up from suppliers, from transportation costs, energy costs, we're seeing larger increases than anybody is getting in terms of inflationary increases for your income and certainly Ontario Works and disability pensions don't have increases like that in the works," said Vanni.
He said as food prices increase, individuals with low incomes get further behind.
"People are literally making choices between feeding themselves or their family, or paying your rent or paying your utility bills. So, that makes it very difficult for families, because where they take shortcuts is not eating healthy, because healthy food is more expensive in the grocery store, or they're not buying the food that they need to and putting more pressure on food banks."
Vanni said an individual on a disability pension gets $1,100 a month.
"That's not very livable and when you add three or four per cent inflation, but you're not increasing their assistance rate, it just drives people down further, and further, and further, into debt or into struggles."
Add in the increasing cost of housing, and you create a "perfect storm," Vanni said.
"Now it's a double whammy for folks. They don't have the money to pay for rent, pay for housing, because it's gone up so much, and food has gone up so much, and add to that the fact that they're getting less hours from work because of COVID shutdowns and that sort of stuff. Your income has dropped and all of your expenses are going up. It's the perfect storm for a family to collapse."
Vanni said they try to teach clients how to stretch their dollars, and one of the ways they've done it is by setting the food bank up like a grocery story.
"So, they go through shopping and they spend the points they get to select the food that they want. So, it gives them that life skill experience of shopping. Our volunteers guide them through and talk about items on sale, we've got two for a point, rather than a point each, to kind of mirror what their shopping opportunities might be at the grocery store."
Buying no name brands, things on sale, or in bulk helps, and just like families, Vanni said, the Inn is also struggling with challenges presented during the pandemic.
"We immediately had to stop a lot of our major food drive events, like CANstruction or Cyclone Aid, so those huge donations weren't coming in. Schools, churches, businesses, they've been closed in the last couple years and they're regular collectors of food. So, our donations of food have dropped off pretty dramatically. We went from spending about $3,000 a month on purchasing food before COVID to $25,000 a month."
Ultimately, Vanni said more financial support is needed.
"The government has to recognize that for those folks that are on fixed incomes; seniors, people who are on a disability pension, or on Ontario Works -- and you can't work, so how do you change your income level, you can't -- they need to make sure that those rates are livable."
