Food banks hope for holiday bounty amid rising demand

Simon Malsi hopes to pick up a few extra hours of work on Thanksgiving Day to help him afford to put a holiday meal on the table.

The personal support worker said he’s been trying to secure more shifts to make ends meet as his family strains to keep up with the soaring cost of living in Toronto.

Even with his wife’s part-time wages, Malsi said rent, gas and groceries have become so expensive that it’s a struggle to keep his twoyear-old son and five-year-old daughter well fed.

There are plenty of other families in the same position this holiday season, say food bank workers, as staggering inflation rates drive up demand for their services while diminishing the buying power of their donation dollars.

Malsi turned up at the North York Harvest Food Bank for the first time Tuesday with a plaid plastic bag as volunteers helped him pick out items from the shelves.

For a family of four, a standard haul might include four packs of instant dry noodles, a jar of peanut butter, two cans of tuna, two bags of lentils, two packs of spaghetti, a carton of milk, a box of yogurt, a smattering of fresh vegetables and a few other staples.

The supplies are meant to last three days, but many families stretch them out for longer.

Malsi said he hopes the supplemental food may leave enough room in his budget to buy a barbecued chicken for Thanksgiving dinner.

North York Harvest Food Bank is among a number of organizations across the country that have reported a steady influx of new users since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, 3,500 families visited the network for the first time, said Henry Chiu, director of development and marketing. He expects that number could continue to rise amid deepening concern about a looming recession.

So far, the community has stepped up their generosity to meet the heightened need, said Chiu.

“A food bank is a necessary but only a Band-Aid solution,” said Chiu. “We need to have a more robust social support network.”