36th annual spring food drive comes with goodness, and challenge

The London Food Bank spring drive kicks off Friday and runs until April 10 — and the need has never been higher, according to co-executive director Jane Roy.

“Now we're seeing 5,000 families a month. That's up 40 per cent over where it was last year. So when we're throwing out those numbers, those are families,” she said. “Those are individuals that need assistance.”

The kick off began with a group of young people between 11 and 13 called the “Goodness Angels.” Many of them have come to Canada from Syria and Turkey, this was the first donation of the drive.

“We dropped off brown paper bags at people's doors with, like little instructions on them. And then like three to four days later, we went and picked them up and then came here and donated it and stuff,” Melike Akin said of the multi-month effort to collect and donate roughly 2,000 pounds of food.

The act of the Goodness Angels is a form of paying it forward, as many came to Canada with their families at a young age and received help from the food bank.

“When I first came to Canada, the London Food Bank helped me and my family a lot because we didn't really know what to do. And now that I’m older and I’m in like a different position in my life than I was six years ago, now I want to help them back,” said Akin.

With the food bank seeing continuous influx of new families in need, co-executive director Glen Pearson said something needs to be done before it's unsustainable.

“This won't go on much longer. Food banks across the country are beginning to fail or beginning to ration. We're fortunate in London that we're still going, but you can't keep seeing things climb to this degree and not get involved as policymakers, politicians, people that are in bureaucracies,” he explained.

Pearson challenged decision makers re-ignite efforts that started a decade ago to make food more available, but those reports were never implemented.

"It's time to bring that group back together with policymakers and say, ‘How could we make it?’ This isn't about helping hungry families. This is about better food and cheaper food in London for everybody. And that's what the design of those things was. So I’m really challenging those groups to come back together, including us as a food bank,” he said.

Paper bags can be found at area grocery stores throughout Easter weekend, along with drop off locations. Perishable items can still be donated directly to the food bank.