April 18, 2020

FOOD BANKS STRUGGLE TO COPE WITH COVID-19 FALLOUT

HUNSVILLE — An Easter food drive cancelled due to COVID-19 has left The Table food bank in Huntsville short of loaves and fishes.

Churches are closed, so donations of food are down along with collection plate contributions.

And with demand up just slightly due to more unemployed, normally generous providers are feeling the pinch.

Luckily more people are staying home and writing cheques.

Community groups and others, including some municipalities, are sending donations.

That’s good for the The Table, which lost $63,000 last year.

They run a small men’s hostel that’s full and a twice-weekly take-out meal program that serves 50-60 people daily.

CEO Heather Cassie and food bank manager Barb Stronach were there again on Friday helping as usual.

Only the past few weeks they’ve been standing outside the front door greeting guests.

They stand behind three long white plastic tables laden with two free complimentary gift items each for clients who must fire fill out a shopping list to be taken inside to be filled.

Twenty minutes or so later there’s a cardboard box of a dozen or two items waiting around the corner on another table at the building exit waiting to be picked up for a healthy takeout.

It brings new meaning to their name — as they set table for the hungry stay-at-homers.

It’s the same story across Muskoka, as food banks have seen donors step up.

In Gravenhurst, at the Salvation Army, Bill German dropped off four loaded plastic bags to “Beth” and “Candice” who opened the door to accept the donation on Friday.

All of them had masks and gloves on.

German said the food had all been “wiped down.”

Candace said they’ll let it sit a few days, anyway, just to make sure it’s safe to hand out.

German was doing the drop-off for his boss, Myles Mindham — a Toronto jeweller and cottager who has a pop-up store in Port Carling — and who had extra food he wanted to donate to support the community.

The Gravenhurst Salvation Army, which runs a Tuesday drop-in lunch for men, too has seen a growing demand for services.

They hand out food now only by appointment, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.