The South Porcupine Food Bank bucked a trend that a lot of food banks experienced early in the pandemic. While they saw an increase in people needing their service, South Porcupine Food Bank treasurer Peter Davis says it actually saw a decrease.
“A lot of people used to carpool or vanpool to our food bank and certainly didn’t feel comfortable during the lockdown,” he remarks. “I think a lot of people took the lockdown to heart and weren’t coming out at that point and trying to find other means (to get food).”
Davis also thinks several previous clients received the $2,000 Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) so were able to buy food.
And he says a lot of organizations across the city stepped up to ensure food security… such as the Timmins Native Friendship Centre.
“They have been building capacity during the pandemic to provide a food bank as well as emergency food delivery and that was significant for our numbers because almost about 50% of our clients had been indigenous.”
Davis also credits Anti-Hunger Coalition Timmins with coordinating the various food-related relief activities.