Donations to food banks in Windsor-Essex have slowed for the season in a time when they're needed more than ever.
Street Help's Christine Wilson-Furlonger says the shelter did receive a boost from the Muslim community over Ramadan, but those donations won't get food banks through the summer.
She says the shelter on Wyandotte Street East near Langlois Avenue feeds more than 300 people experiencing homelessness or having trouble making ends meet every day.
"We took on a greater load of people within our area who no longer had a food bank and no longer had their job," she says. "It's amazing how many new faces came to us that were not homeless."
Wilson-Furlonger says summer months have always been tough, but they've been worse in the time of COVID-19.
"We have learned that this is the time of year we really have to reach out to people and say please help us with those needed items," she added.
She says food banks are always in need of perishable items.
"Meat, dairy products, these things can be hard to come by sometimes and really impact our budget when we have to go buy it," she says.
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With files from Rob Hindi