Food bank use seeing sustained increase in demand [Video]

The breadbasket of Ontario is seeing more people going hungry than ever before.

“We’ve seen an increase in total need going up about 13 to 15 per cent every year for the last number of years, and that’s very disheartening to hear. I mean, that’s in the number of seniors that we are serving, as well as children,” says Mary Ellen Zielman, Executive Director of the Huron County Food Distribution Centre.

The Huron County Food Distribution Centre provides food to 35 food banks and aid agencies in Huron and Perth County. They distributed over 1 million pounds of food last year, and this year is projected to be worse.

“Certainly, this year we’ll also be exceeding that amount,” says Zielman.

In Wingham food bank use has more than doubled over the past decade, with most of that increase happening in the past few years.

“Ten years ago, we were seeing …