On Dec. 11, 2024, The Food Bank of Waterloo Region received $756,000 from the Region of Waterloo due to the demand for emergency food assistance.
The Waterloo Region approved the funding increase as part of the 2025 budget.
The demand for food support is rising rapidly, without any signs of stopping. In October alone, 25,000 individuals accessed emergency food support, marking an all-time high for the organization.
The Community Food Assistance Network is a group created by the Region of Waterloo Food Bank and the Cambridge Food Bank.
The Region of Waterloo Food Bank functions as a distribution centre but does not give out food directly, so it partnered with the Cambridge Food Bank to distribute food.
In total, the Assistance network distributed 186,830 hampers, which is a 23 per cent increase and served more than 1.2 million meals, marking a 38 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
Kim Wilhelm, the CEO of the Food Bank of Waterloo Region, said the organization has never seen this level of demand, and the organization is in a crisis. She said this issue doesn’t only affect the Waterloo Region but also other regions and even other provinces of Canada.
She said the primary cause for this increase is the higher cost of living within Waterloo Region, and people must make impossible choices, such as whether to put food in their stomachs or a roof over their heads.
“We require action from all levels of government to handle social assistance, living wages, and affordable housing, including mental health supports. It’s also ensuring that people have enough income to support themselves,” she said.
On Oct. 21, the Food Bank of Waterloo Region released its annual Community Impact report. According to the report, one in eight households in Waterloo Region struggle to afford food.
The report noted that the number of new households accessing food support for the first time increased 12 per cent from the previous years, 11 per cent of households that reported an income source said at least one family member has employment but lacked sufficient income to afford food, and 19 per cent of households reported receiving Ontario Works or Ontario Disability Support Program payments.
“The funding is essential to meet the increasing demand for food assistance, which has seen a significant rise in recent years,” Colleen James, a Waterloo Region Councillor representing Kitchener, said.
The Regional Council’s approval of the $1.5 million in funding is one of the crucial steps to ensure that the Community Food Assistance Network has the resources to respond to ongoing food insecurity. Though the funding falls short of their original request of $2.086 million, it still provides the support necessary to address the increasing need for food services within the region.
“I think that the next two to five years, at a minimum, will continue to be challenging,” Wilhelm said. “I hope we can all do something together to address this problem.”
Leave a Reply