Daily Bread Food Bank holds holiday food sort amid historic usage

Nearly 200 volunteers are slated to sort and pack urgently needed food donations at the Daily Bread Food Bank's centre in Etobicoke on Saturday.

The annual sorting event is happening at a time where the use of food banks have reached historic levels, said Daily Bread's CEO Neil Hetherington.

"We are seeing the highest level of food bank usage ever," he told CBC Toronto. "By calendar end, we will be at 3.75 million visits in a single year. It took 38 years for us to serve one million client visits."

Visits have increased by 25 per cent since last year, the food bank said in a news release, a figure that is over 4.5 times greater than pre-pandemic levels. The charity also said more than one in 10 Torontonians are relying on its services to feed their families and themselves.

While many households are busy shopping for the holidays, volunteer Julie Holmen said the sorting event allows families to donate their time to a great cause.

"It's such an uplifting experience to go in and it's such a simple thing to do," she said.

"It's just really heartbreaking to think that there are people that just can't afford to provide those basic needs for their family, let alone all of the additional things that people want to be able to to give to their families at this holiday season."

One of the policy solutions that could reduce food insecurity is increasing the city's affordable housing stock, Hetherington said. 

"My hope is that there are tens of thousands of Torontonians who find themselves in decent, affordable housing next holiday season … and therefore don't need to to have to make use of food charity next holiday," he said.

In an email, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing said the province "has stepped up to the table" when it comes to investing in housing. 

"Over the next 3 years, we're investing a record $3 billion in affordable housing, anti-homelessness, and emergency shelter supports. Just last week, we announced an additional targeted investment of $75 million to help connect those living in encampments with needed housing," said spokesperson Emma Testani.

In Toronto, housing remains a top priority for policymakers, according to Abigail Bond, the city's executive director of the Housing Secretariat.

"In 2024, approximately 5,200 new rent-geared-to-income, affordable rental and rent-controlled homes were approved, bringing the total number of homes in the City's rent-controlled housing pipeline to over 36,420," she said in an email to CBC Toronto.

"The need for more housing is urgent. More needs to be done and the City cannot do it alone."