Growing need at Sudbury Infant Food Bank, says its executive director
Sudbury Pregnancy Care Centre and Infant Food Bank helps between 600 and 700 families each year
Every year the Sudbury Pregnancy Care Centre and Infant Food Bank helps between 600 and 700 families meet basic needs for their young children, says its executive director.
Cherie Bonhomme said the centre registers one or two new families every day, and demand has steadily increased since the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The cost of everything has gone up, just the cost of food alone," she said.
"And yeah, when they come in you can see relief over their face once they know what they can come and access."
WATCH| A look at the items Sudbury's Infant Food Bank collects in December
More general food banks have also seen a spike in demand over the last few years.
Feed Ontario's latest Hunger Report said that more than 800,000 people across the province accessed emergency food support in the last year, visiting food banks more than 5.9 million times.
Those numbers represent an increase of 38 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively, over the previous year, and the largest single-year increase ever recorded by Ontario's food bank network.
The Sudbury Pregnancy Care Centre and Infant Food Bank provides parents and caregivers with basics like clothing, diapers, wipes and baby formula.
Every December, it also hosts its annual All We Need for Christmas campaign, in which people and local businesses donate cribs which are filled with essential items for clients.
"Those baby items will stock our shelves all year round," Bonhomme said.
She said the centre does not receive any government funding, and fully relies on donations from the community to keep its shelves stocked.
"The Sudbury community is so generous to us," Bonhomme said. "We wouldn't be able to be doing what we're doing if it wasn't for Sudbury donating."
With files from Erika Chorostil