The Salvation Army Ridge Meadows Ministries is expecting a busy summer this year as demand rises for essential food items.
This past May, the organization distributed more than 150 hampers to families and individuals in the community including emergency food hampers and Sonia's Cradle hampers – which are hampers of essential baby and toddler items – and, explained Amelia Norrie, with the local Salvation Army, 95 per cent of these hampers involved food.
"While we are not the Friends in Need food bank, the main food bank provider in Ridge Meadows, we do operate an emergency food hamper program for people experiencing acute food insecurity," explained Norrie, noting the numbers she is seeing is double what the organization distributed in 2023.
"We are already distributing hampers in the month of June at the same rate as last month, if not slightly more, and we predict that once summer hits, the demand for this program will skyrocket," she added.
New research from the charitable organization is seeing the same rise in demand across the country, as more people are struggling to meet their basic needs.
The Salvation Army Canada noted food affordability, inflation, and housing security are the top issues affecting many families across the country – documenting their findings in their bi-annual Canadian Poverty and Socioeconomic Analysis.
Research for the report was conducted by an external research and analytics company on behalf of The Salvation Army to gather Canadians' attitudes and experiences with poverty and related socioeconomic issues.
The study was conducted from March 11-14, this year, among a nationally representative sample of 1,515 Canadians who are members of the online Angus Reid Forum. The study was balanced and weighted on age, gender and region. However, Canadians living in Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut were not included in the survey.
The report found that 26 per cent of Canadians polled continue to be extremely concerned about having enough income to cover their basic needs, and that concerns around food security are on the rise. The percentage of first-time users of a food bank, food hamper or community meal program, rose sharply, to 61 per cent – compared to 43 per cent in October 2023.
"The increase in first-time users of food banks is an alarming indicator of the conditions that many Canadians are facing," said Lt-Colonel John Murray, territorial secretary for communications, The Salvation Army in Canada and Bermuda. "We often find that when people show up at a food bank it can be the tip of the iceberg for additional issues they may be facing. The Salvation Army is committed to a holistic approach in supporting people through partnerships that help create a positive impact on individuals and families."
There was a five per cent increase in the amount of people who said they had skipped or reduced the size of at least one meal and ,the report also found, more people said they'd bought less nutritious food to save money and had reduced their grocery bill to pay for other necessities.
Financially, 72 per cent of respondents described challenges managing limited financial resources in the past year, including cutting back on non-essential needs (59 per cent), changing habits to save money (52 per cent) and using savings or going into debt to afford basic needs (36 per cent).
"Despite easing inflation numbers, life is still difficult for many Canadians," said Murray. "Food insecurity is just one symptom facing people today. At The Salvation Army, our vision is to reduce barriers and address the root causes of poverty, working together with people to achieve their goals in overcoming them."
The Salvation Army is an international Christian organization that began its work in Canada in 1882 and has grown to become one of the largest direct providers of social services in the country.
