Heading into Thanksgiving, here's how food banks in Thunder Bay, Ont., are handling rising demands

With Thanksgiving around the corner, those that provide food services in Thunder Bay, Ont., are seeing firsthand how the rising cost of living is sending more people to their doors.

Food Bank Canada's Poverty Report Card released this month gave Ontario a D- for issues of food insecurity, housing costs and social assistance levels. Much of the rest of the country didn't pass with flying colours, either. 

As more people are in need of food, fewer people have the extra cash to donate to charities – something CEO David Long of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank has called "a perfect storm."

The rising cost of living has shown up in a big way in northwestern Ontario, with organizations such as the Regional Food Distribution Association (RFDA) seeing more people than ever accessing food. 

"It just disappears so quickly. The increased demand right across the region is really hard to keep up with," said the RFDA's executive director, Volker Kromm.

While COVID-19 has largely subsided, so, too, have the extra pandemic supports from the government. At the same time, food prices have gone up and the supply chain remains disrupted, Kromm said.

The RFDA serves around 2,500 unique individuals in Thunder Bay alone, with upwards of 9,000 to 12,000 people across the region, he said. 

"We've had to stop serving the far north because we just don't have the food," he said.

For the Dew Drop Inn, Thanksgiving is their Super Bowl. Kitchen manager Julio Chiodo says the organization is expecting to serve more than 700 meals on Monday, surpassing last year's record of 682.

It's also anticipating it will beat last year's record of 122,000 meals served altogether.

"We're projecting 165,000 [meals] this year because we're already 23,000 over where we were at this point last year," Chiodo said. "The needs are outweighing what we have in our stock."

When asked what donations they're most in need of, he answered "unfortunately, everything."

Although there's been generous support from other organizations and local businesses – especially for the upcoming turkey dinner – it's hard to keep the pantry full.

Despite the challenges at hand, the Dew Drop Inn is never closed.