'It’s scary to go grocery shopping': In-house food bank hopes to shore up donations as prices rise
With the dramatic rise in the cost of food, a grass-roots food bank at a London community housing apartment building is hoping to shore up support heading into the colder months.
“We have between 80 and 90 people now every month, which is a lot of people,” said Fran Wassmer of The Caring Cupboard. “It takes a lot of food to cover them, and I hate to see seniors go without food.”
The in-house food bank operates out of 30 Baseline Rd West and is run by a group of tenants. It serves just the tenants in the building — most of whom are seniors living on fixed incomes, Ontario Works or Ontario Disability Support Payments.
One of the coordinators, Mary Blancher, said they estimate that by this winter their list of tenants asking for help will have increased by 50 per cent since the start of the pandemic.
“We have some fantastic donors that are really generous to us, but it’s not going to be enough moving forward,” said Blancher. “The wintertime, we have people with disabilities, they’re not going to be able to get out as much to the stores. So we figure that our numbers are going to increase probably about ten per cent or more.”
Volunteer Margaret Robertson, a client herself, said she wouldn’t be able to get through the month without the help.
“Well it’s scary to go grocery shopping because everything has gone up, yeah. And nobody makes you feel like you’re a less person because you’re coming in and getting things here,” said Robertson.
The Caring Cupboard opens doors on the third Wednesday of every month. The timing is no accident, because it’s around the third week of the month that organizers say many people living on government assistance run out of money and run out of food.
Wassmer said she believes that by operating an in-house service they are also taking a small amount of pressure off of the London Food Bank.
“Trying to do the best we can to help everybody have food.”
Anyone wishing to donate to The Caring Cupboard can drop off donations to 30 Baseline Rd. West on Fridays between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. or call Fran Wassmer at 519-777-4808.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
As GC Strategies partner is admonished by MPs, RCMP confirms search warrant executed
The RCMP confirmed Wednesday it had executed a search warrant at an address registered to GC Strategies. This development comes as MPs are enacting an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power, summoning one of its contractors to appear before the House of Commons to be admonished publicly for failing to answer questions related to the ArriveCan app.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.
Government proposes new policy for federally regulated employees to disconnect from work
In their 2024 budget, the federal government wants to amend the Canada Labour Code, so employers in federally regulated sectors will eliminate work-related communication with employees outside of scheduled hours. If implemented, this would affect roughly 500,000 across the country.
Earthquake jolts southern Japan
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 hit southern Japan late on Wednesday, said the Japan Meteorological Agency, without issuing a tsunami warning.