Ontario food banks handing out less food per visit due to skyrocketing demand

Almost half of food banks across the province, including in Toronto, are now handing out less food per visit as they struggle to keep up with skyrocketing demand.

Daily Bread volunteer Ryan, 36, has been using food banks on and off his entire life. He said he’s upset by the level of hunger people are experiencing and believes this crisis was preventable. 

“We just don’t have the luxury of treading water any more,” said Ryan.

“All of this was never supposed to stay here … this is a band-aid solution that’s older than you and me put together. This is a band-aid that’s falling off because it was never meant to do this job.”

According to the latest Feed Ontario report, food bank usage has now outpaced capacity and resources with 40 per cent of food banks across the province being forced to cut back, including Toronto’s Daily Bread food banks 

“Someone who is coming to the daily bread food banks across the city is going to see 10 per cent less food in their basket. It means normally they would get three days worth of food and now it’s 2.7 days worth of food – once per week. It’s one less meal,” shared CEO Neil Heatherington

The report found one million Ontarians are now using food banks.

Usage among renters is up by 80 per cent. There’s been 109 per cent increase in the number of people who are experiencing some form of homelessness and about one in four food bank users are employed.

As we head into the busy holiday season, the Taylor Swift effect has given Toronto’s food bank network a financial boost of $216,000.

The 22 street signs that lined Taylor Swift Way during the megastars stint in Toronto last month have now been auctioned off Rogers, who paid for the signs to be installed, stepped in more than doubling the amount with a $113,000 donation. 

“Every single dollar donated to Daily Bread will result in one meal. It’s as simple math as that,” said Heatherington.

Bu he said we can’t just buy our way out of this crisis.

He tells CityNews the number one driver behind the staggering demand is a lack of affordable housing. Inadequate government assistance is also a major issue. 

“When I started at the Daily Bread Food Bank seven years ago, we were serving about 35,000 meals coming out came out of this facility a day. That number is now 200,000.,” said Heatherington.

Daily Bread is also bracing for a challenging 2025. Heatherington said they now are consistently seeing 10,000-12,000 new visitors every month.