Food banks in need

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The holiday season is all about giving. Volunteers across the golden horseshoe are rolling up their sleeves and donating their time to help those who need it most. Food banks in the area are dealing with a spike in visits this season and they’re in need of food, gifts and volunteers.

It’s been non-stop at St.Matthew’s House in Hamilton.

Volunteers were doing some serious heavy lifting as they kicked off their Christmas Hamper program.

“The need in Hamilton is actually quite enormous,” said Karen Randell, from St. Matthew’s House.

Families lined up for hours outside the centre to pick up their hampers filled with toys.

Over 600 families are getting a helping hand during the holiday season.

Including Ed Kurtis, who moved to Hamilton from New Brunswick in March.

“It’s been a hard go, for us since we moved here. And I lost a lot coming here. Lost my truck. It’s been a hard go, this is something good for us, you know.”

The program is completely volunteer driven.

They hand selected the gifts for each hamper, making it that more special.

“To be able to help support and give back to them and for them to have that Christmas morning, that surprise, it is quite heart warming to me.” said Madeleine Bond, who is a volunteer with St. Matthew’s House.

St. Matthew’s House food bank will also be running on the same business hours during the holidays.

But they say their shelves have dried up.

“Even fresh fruit, vegetables, milk, anything that you would think you go through a lot on a daily basis. We go through ten times as much.”

The Grimsby benevolent fund is also gearing up for the holiday rush.

Volunteers were stocking shelves and sorting through donations.

The holiday season is a busy time for food banks like the Grimsby Benevolent fund. But the need is year round. A recent study about 360 000 children and adults are using food banks each month across the province.

A report by the Ontario association of food banks says there were 10 000 more visits to food banks in 2015 compared to the year before.

90% of them were either renters or living in social housing.

120 000 were under the age of 18.

The Grimsby benevolent fund serves more than 200 households a month.

They’re in need of fruit juice, canned meat and hygiene products. But they’re falling short on donations for older kids.

“A lot of times the little ones are thought of and that’s great but our teens need that little bit of help as well.” said Stacy Elia, from the Grimsby Benevolent fund.

A strong sense of community is something the agency prides itself on.

They plan to keep its doors open even during the holidays.