During the COVID-19 pandemic, both food banks serving Flamborough have seen increased demand for their services, but generous donations from the community have helped them keep pace.

Jim Leamen, the managing director of the Flamborough Food Bank, said the organization had 235 family visits in the month of April.

“Based on our numbers, that would be somewhere above 800 people served,” he said, adding that is the total number and could include repeat visits. “Normally, on a week-to-week basis, I would say we average 40 families visiting (us) per week.

“Right now we’re at 60.”

While clients usually visit the food bank every two weeks, Leamen said they have been allowing weekly visits, as they are only providing a week’s worth of food at a time.

“Some people would be coming a little more frequently – we’re not actually registering people, so I can’t (confirm) the actual number – but I think, based on who I know and what I see, we’re probably closer to up 10 per cent.

“I think that number is going to keep growing.”

Rev. Sue-Ann Ward of the Food With Grace Waterdown Food Bank, which operates out of Grace Anglican Church, said that while they have seen a slight uptick in numbers, it hasn’t been overwhelming.

“Part of the reason is because we’re giving out a lot of food with every visit,” she said. “We’re hoping that folks will only need to come every couple of weeks and not every week if we give them a really good quantity of food, so we’re not seeing people every week necessarily.”

She said the food bank is now supporting about 80 families per week, an increase of more than 15 families since the beginning of the pandemic.

Ward noted the community has been very generous and the food bank has had new volunteers step up. She added they are now offering delivery to clients.

“Some of our neighbours aren’t able to get to the food bank without getting a ride with somebody,” she said. “They’re not able to physically distance if they’re having to get a ride.”

Leamen said that despite the increased demand, the Flamborough Food Bank has a good supply of food – thanks to a number of generous donations from the community.

“I want to thank the community – all of Flamborough – for (their) tremendous, tremendous support,” he said.

Leamen said a recent food drive in Carlisle that brought in over 2,000 pounds of food and $1,500 was “a huge help” to keep them in good shape from a food supply standpoint. As well, he said, the 50,000 bottles and more than $5,000 raised in the Married with Real Estate bottle drive run by Carlisle’s Zogala family was amazing.

The food bank also received a donation of $2,000 from the Waterdown Rod and Gun Club and another donation of $1,000 in gift cards from Flamborough Sobeys franchisee Troy Ganci.

Leamen added that the Waterdown Dairy Queen did some order top-ups, raising $600, and Fortinos donated a bunch of peanut butter and created a food basket at the checkout to create awareness around supporting the food bank.

“We’ve seen more steady community donations out of the Fortinos box than we normally would for this time of the year,” he said. “I could go on and on and on.

“It’s been amazing, the support from the community.”

Further to community support, Leamen said, the food bank is also getting support from Hamilton Food Share, which received 28,000 hampers funded by the province in partnership with Feed Ontario, a portion of which went to the Flamborough Food Bank in early May.

Leamen said the provincial hampers are a big help.

“I think we’re doing really well in the short term, in terms of food supply and support,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ward said, Food With Grace did not accept the provincial hampers, as they were able to have a good supply without them.

“We have a whole variety of places from which we receive food, so we have been fortunate that way,” she said, adding they did receive a small financial grant from Feed Ontario.

She said a number of local businesses, service clubs and faith communities have been very supportive of Food With Grace.

“It’s been wonderful,” she said.

However, Leamen said, the Flamborough Food Bank remains concerned with funding in the long term.

“That’s strictly because we’re essentially 100 per cent community-funded,” he said. “Most of that funding comes out of events, and with all the events either cancelled or it's unknown if they can go forward, that’s a concern for us.

“Long-term, I’m talking late summer, end of September.”

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STORY BEHIND THE STORY

As Flamborough's food banks brace for a surge of new clients, the Review reconnected with them to see how they were coping with feeding an increased number of hungry families during the COVID-19 pandemic. The community has stepped up to ensure the food banks have needed items to support families in need.