New food bank opens in Whitby
Published April 29, 2024 at 3:45 pm
Whitby has a new food bank at the Iroquois Sports Centre to help feed those in need.
The food bank is the result of a partnership between the town and Feed the Need in Durham, a long-standing Region-wide food bank system based in Oshawa. The new market-based location will open on May 2, “helping to provide a more accessible, dignified, and equitable way for individuals to access food bank services and healthy food options in a community setting,” the town wrote.
However, people looking to use the food bank will need to register. They can do so at the Iroquois Sports Centre every Thursday between 3 and 7 p.m. After this, clients will receive a Feed the Need ID to book their visits online.
The Market has only 100 spots available every week. Those who book a shopping trip can freely explore the Market to select the food they wish. Thanks to the location at the sports centre, the bank will be able to offer fresh food such as meat and produce.
“This empowers visitors to meet their unique dietary needs and family preferences. With extended evening availability, the market meets rising demand and helps fill current gaps in local food bank services,” Whitby said.
Outside of bookings, Feed the Need will prepare pre-packaged food for clients to pick up during business hours.
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The town leased a 1,000-square-foot area, which was previously office space in the sports centre to Feed the Need for three years at no cost to the organization. This lease can be extended annually after 2027.
“Today marks an important milestone in our ongoing efforts to combat food insecurity in Whitby,” said Mayor Elizabeth Roy, “This new market-style food bank will provide dignity and equity for residents in need, allowing them to choose groceries with the same autonomy afforded to any shopper.”
Food bank use has risen rapidly across Durham Region in recent years. In 2022, Feed the Need released a report which found a 42 per cent jump in food bank use in the previous three years.
This was backed up by a Feed Ontario study which concluded that 600,000 Ontarians had accessed a food bank in that time. This was the sixth straight year food bank usage increased.
Feed Ontario credited this increase to “decades of insufficient investments in quality jobs, the provincial social safety net, and affordable housing as the primary drivers of this growth” and not strictly the result of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The rate of food bank use increase was even higher than the provincial average in Durham, however. At the time Feed the Need in Durham CEO Ben Earle reported a 58 per cent increase across the Region.
Some 40 per cent of these new visitors were youth living in food-insecure homes and nearly half of these kids were between the ages of six and 11.
Feed the Need operates a network of 65 organizations which have provided residents with nearly 8 million pounds of food and more than 1.7 million prepared meals since 2018.
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