According to a Feed Ontario study, in 2018, over 507 thousand people accessed a food bank in Ontario, for a total of over 3 million visits.
In Huron Bruce alone, 2189 people accessed a Feed Ontario Food Bank, including 1406 adults and 783 children, with the total visits to food banks over 11 thousand.
The Huron County Food Bank Distribution Centre isn’t apart of Feed Ontario but Executive Director Mary Ellen Zielman says they see high numbers of clients as well.
Zielman says other services like affordable housing and a living wage would be beneficial as currently, only 50 percent of people in Huron County make more than the living wage.
She adds that hunger is a very real problem in Huron County and can cause people to develop chronic conditions like depression while hungry children are more likely to have behavioural issues and trouble with memory.
To help combat local hunger the Huron County Food Bank Distribution Centre has started mobile food banks with 2 in service and another one on the way by the fall.
