Food bank launches summer campaign to feed hungry kids

WATERLOO REGION — Ensuring all children have enough to eat is always a summer focus for the Food Bank of Waterloo Region, but especially now as safety nets disappear during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We tend to talk about kids in the summer and even more so this year,” said Wendi Campbell, chief executive officer.

When school ended early in March, so too did schoolbased nutrition programs. Many summer camps and recreation programs are facing cancellation, and along with them access to snacks and meals for the children who would have attended.

Campbell said that lost help is putting added pressure on families to provide food to kids who are at home all day, especially those who have been hardhit by the pandemic.

“We’ve got some really vulnerable families in our region who are going to need the support even more,” she said.

That’s why the food bank launched a summer-long campaign to raise a halfmillion meals for hungry children. Just over a third of the people accessing food assistance in the region are children under 18.

Campbell said the food bank is seeing many new families, who before the pandemic were on the verge of being food insecure but managing to get food on the table.

“They’re now coming to food programs for the very first time,” she said.

There’s been a 40 per cent increase in the amount of food distributed since the state of emergency was declared in mid-March compared to the same period last year.

Hunger can happen to anyone at any time, Campbell said. All the reasons people need food assistance remain, plus many have been hit with illness, job loss or reduced wages during the pandemic.

“This crisis is one of those things that nobody expected and nobody could really plan for,” Campbell said.

She said the food bank’s staff and volunteer team have been working tirelessly to get food to those who need it, and there’s been enough thanks to the community’s generosity during this difficult time.

“The community has been incredibly supportive,” Campbell said. “We’ve been able to meet the needs for right now.”

People can make a financial donation online, by phone or mail — and those will be matched by Allan Bush of CIBC Woody Gundy until the end of August. Bins are still in grocery stores for food donations.

Campbell said the goal is to make sure that “the kids in our community who have been through so much already” stay fed and healthy this summer.