A local organization held a food drive recently in Wallaceburg to help do their part to restock the shelves at the food bank.
The Chatham-Kent Community Health Centres hosted the drive at their Wallaceburg site located at 808 Dufferin Avenue.
“There was a callout from the Salvation Army saying that the shelves were a little bit bare and they needed some support,” said Beth Kominek, health promoter with the CKCHC. “So we thought we’d rally the community together to help support the local food banks and get some food out there and raise awareness about the fact that there are so many people that use the food banks.
Kominek added: “It’s just a temporary solution but it’s a good one. It works for now and hopefully working towards more food secure initiatives.”
According to the Ontario Association of Food Banks 2014 Hunger Report, almost 375,000 Ontarians turned to food banks and one third of them were children.
While food drives and banks provide a short-term solution to food insecurity, one must delve deeper into the causation of this insecurity to truly understand the need. There is often a misconception that only those who are economically disadvantaged may have decreased food provisions. While that can be a contributing factor, those who are employed may seek the assistance of a food bank as well.
Other contributing factors to consider are unemployment, low income and single income families.
– With files from Sang Tran
– Photo credit: Sang Tran
