With the cost of food increasing, more and more families, seniors, and others have turned to food banks across Canada to help keep food on the table, and the impact at Gleaners Food Bank in Belleville has been a sharp increase in the number of requests for help.
Community engagement specialist for Gleaners, Jodie Jenkins, says that food bank usage in Belleville has recently climbed to nearly 20% of the population and that donations have also been growing.
“The response has been unbelievable. The community steps up,” said Jenkins. “I couldn’t believe how many food drives, how many contributions there were in the holiday months.”
The increase in both people requesting help and incoming donations has kept volunteers busy. Over the course of 2024, Gleaners distributed roughly 2,139,000 pounds of food, compared to 744,000 pounds in 2023 and 551,000 pounds in 2022.
A bin filled with unsorted donations to Gleaners food bank. Volunteers will sort the donations by type and expiration dates, before the food makes its way out to people in need. Photo: Alan-Michael Steele, Quinte News
In order to collect enough food to keep up with demand, Gleaners is constantly collecting donations from both members of the public, and local food companies who can provide needed items in large quantities. Jenkins praised the community response, with donations rising to meet the increased demand over the holiday season.
“I haven’t seen us be in a position where we’re lacking food right now, but I’m busting my butt to keep us top of mind, because the moment we slow down and stop telling our story, that’s when people start to forget,” said Jenkins. “We’ve still got to put food on the table for people in January, February, March, April, May. So it’s ongoing.”
The rising usage of food banks also means that more diverse groups are requesting help. Jenkins says that visitors to a food bank range from young adults, to families with children, up to seniors living on a fixed income.
“There’s no set formula as to what someone looks like, but I can tell you one thing, you would have a tough time being on the street picking out who’s using the food bank and who’s not,” said Jenkins. “Because that’s the reality of it. People are so pushed to the edge these days.”
While Gleaners Food Bank serves the Belleville area, they also operate the Tri-County Warehouse which helps provide food to other partner food banks around the region.
A packing station for food hampers at Gleaners Food Bank. Photo: Alan-Michael Steele
