Donations short with 4 days remaining in Daily Bread food drive

With four days remaining in Daily Bread Food Bank’s annual holiday drive, the organization is shy of both its financial and food goals.

Executive director Gail Nyberg is hoping the recent ice storm raised awareness about the need for food banks.

“What [the ice storm] did, it showed a number of us who don’t normally use food banks what it’s like to worry about what you’re going to eat,” she told CityNews at the sorting centre at 191 Toronto St. on Friday.

It also raised concerns about loss of power – a very real concern for food bank clients, who spend on average nearly three-quarters of their income on rent at the expense of hydro bills and food.

Daily Bread has set a goal of $2.5 million and 1-million pounds of food and they hope to collect it by Tuesday. As of Friday, the organization was about half a million dollars away from its financial goal, with $1,965,000 raised. But it had raised less than half the amount of food required, with just 382,000 pounds of food donated.

Nyberg said the food that is collected at this time of year is used all through the winter.

“We ship about a million pounds of food out of this building every month. The food we collect during this drive is to make sure the shelves are stocked,” she said.

Last year, more than a million people used food banks in the Greater Toronto Area. It was the fifth straight year of similar numbers, according to an annual report by the Daily Bread Food Bank.

Food bank clients receive an average monthly income of about $700 and spend nearly 75 per cent of it on rent.

The easiest way to donate is online. Click here for more information. Non-perishable items can also be dropped off at fire halls or the grocery store.