More than 14,000 children use rural food banks and hunger relief programs each month, according to a 2012 study from the Ontario Association of Food Banks. With this number placing rural Ontario childhood hunger at an all-time high, Woolwich Community Service’s annual fall/Thanksgiving food drive takes on an added urgency.
“Donating to us, you’re helping people in the community that may not be as fortunate as you are,” said Don Harloff, executive director for the organization.
“It could be a neighbour, it could be a friend, it could be a family member.”
In the last year, WCS has provided 715 hampers throughout Woolwich and Wellesley. Statistics from Food Banks Canada’s HungerCount program show that some 50 per cent of people that WCS provides with food in a year are children. The Thanksgiving drive, which represents the organization’s largest annual food drive, will be critical to helping keep the children fed.
“Right now, our cupboards are very light in any food,” said Harloff. “We do rely on this drive to help us fill our shelves so we can make it at least until Christmas time, if not further into the year. So it’s an extremely important drive for us.
“We’re a lean machine here,” he added. “A large portion of your donation is going directly to programs and services.”
The increase in child hunger has led to new initiatives in Ontario food banks. Since January, WCS has operated its ‘Lunch Crunch’ program, which provides food to families who cannot afford proper lunches for their children.
“That has proven to be a very popular and necessary program to ensure that children go to school with good nutritional snacks and lunch,” said Harloff.
In addition, the Grocery Foundation this week announced it would commit $100,000 to the Ontario Association of Food Banks’ Rural Kids Program for a second year.
WCS has participated in the region-wide Thanksgiving initiative for Food Banks Canada since its inception. “Our goal is to assist people in this community,” said Harloff. “We’re one of the few non-profit charities that specifically works with people in Woolwich Township, and that is who we focus our services on.”
And for their part, township residents have been consistently generous, he said.
“There is a tremendous response throughout the region, but certainly in Woolwich Township we are blessed with a wonderful community that puts its heart and soul into assisting us in helping people. The food drive is a very good example of that.”
Donations can be made to the Thanksgiving food drive until October 15 at WCS’ office, 73 Arthur St. S. in Elmira.
