The food bank at the St. Vincent De Paul Society is seeing a lot more foot traffic these days.
A new poll from Food Banks Canada reports a quarter of Canadians are eating less than they should because there isn’t enough money left at the end of their pay cheques for food.
That number almost doubled for people making less than 50-thousand dollars a year.
Spokesperson, Bernie Goold told MyPGNow.com the spike in the number of people stopping by their location is just as shocking.
“We would say that our family hampers are up by 25% over last year. Part of that is at least 30 to 35 of our hampers each month are going out to senior citizens.”
“We are thrilled to do it and be able to serve them but it saddens me that they can no longer afford to have a decent meal.”
Goold added even their organization is feeling the pinch when purchasing the food needed for one of their hampers.
“We notice ourselves buying a lot more groceries than we have in other years, running out of Christmas and Food Drive food. We have been buying a lot more but we are grateful to be able to continue and serve.”
The poll also suggests hunger and food insecurity is rising across the country because of the increasing cost of staples like bread, meat, and pasta.
“We all know, those of us who have an income, and those who are working, know that they are struggling with fresh fruit and vegetables and meat has gone exorbitantly high,” added Goold.
One in five Canadians reports going hungry in the past year according to Food Banks Canada.
Stats Canada says Canadians paid almost 10-percent more for food in April compared to a year ago.
– with files from Vista Radio newswire
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