Both the Parry Sound Salvation Army Food Bank and Harvest Share Food Bank are hosting food drives this long weekend.
Salvation Army representatives will be at Sobeys May 16 and 17 at 10 a.m. collecting donations throughout the day.
Family Service Worker Caroline Claridge says the food bank staff are continuing to see new people walk through their doors.
“Every month there is at least 15 new clients accessing the food bank, and that could be single people, couples or families,” she said. “It is right across the board that people are needing that extra bit of help every month to make everything work together financially for them.”
For the first time in her six years working at the Salvation Army Food Bank, Claridge says she sees a storage room that’s continuously depleted.
“Every month we are depleted,” she said. “There is not much in the storage room to go on the shelves. There is always food in the food bank, but we are increasingly giving out more food. That is why food drives are so important to allow us to continue to do the work that we do.”
The Harvest Share Food Bank has also seen usage increase dramatically, according to Executive Director Wendy Pegahmagabow.
“Numbers are definitely going up. They have been since October, and (they’ve risen) very dramatically now in the new year with the high cost of food and rent,” she said. “It is really challenging for people. More and more are experiencing the struggle of food insecurity.”
Harvest Share representatives will be at No Frills from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 16 collecting donations.
Officials from both organizations say lists of the most needed items will be handed out to interested shoppers as they enter stores.
Some of those include canned soup, fruit, meat and veggies, Kraft Dinner, low-sugar cereal, juice boxes and deodorant.
