The president of the Windsor-Essex Food Bank Association is issuing a call to action to people across Windsor-Essex.
June Muir is calling on everyone to donate even just $5 to help support area food banks, saying "we are in a crisis."
She says between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 of this year, 132,960 people have been served at the 15 area food banks. That's a 22 per cent increase compared to the 109,020 people served between Jan. 1, 2019 and Sept. 1, 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Muir says we all need to take responsibility and do something now, which is why she is issuing the call to action..
"It's easy, you can go to UHC.ca and hit that donate button. 100 per cent of those donations, we will buy food with that money and make sure we get it to people that need it the most," she says.
Muir is also CEO of UHC-Hub of Opportunities, the largest of the local food banks. She says 74,517 people have been served by UHC alone between Jan. 1 to Sept. 30 of this year, a 59 per cent increase over the 46,879 people served during the same time in 2019.
She says if you're on a fixed income, you're really feeling the impact of inflation.
"We're in a crisis situation. Food banks are a necessity, people are working and they are accessing a food bank. They just can't make ends meets, it's been very, very difficult for many in our community," she adds.
A new report from Food Banks Canada says the number of people using food banks across the country surged to an all-time high earlier this year.
It says there were nearly 1.5 million visits to food banks in March, 15 per cent higher than the number of visits in the same month in 2021 and 35 per cent higher than visits in March 2019, before the pandemic hit.
The report says high inflation and low social assistance rates have contributed to the rise in food bank usage.
The report suggests long-term and short-term solutions, including creating a universal minimum income floor for lower-income Canadians and providing more affordable and rent-assisted housing.
With files from the Canadian Press and The Dan MacDonald Show