Food Banks Filling Crucial Need in Rural Communities

by Rev. Robert Chaffey

I am so grateful that the Tri-Township Community Food Basket received a Pastoral Development Award this year. I am very passionate about food insecurity, health supports, poverty, and access to affordable housing. Prior to my accident, I worked as a Housing Program Analyst for the Region of Peel, and it was job I took great pride in after many years on the frontline. I also spent many years on the frontlines doing outreach and providing life skills programming in the community. I loved my work. After my motorcycle accident in 2018, I was afraid I would no longer be able to provide public service due to the injuries sustained in my accident. It took me some time, but I finally heard about this small food bank operating out of the basement of a Canadian Legion, not too far from my home. I interviewed with them, and they welcomed me to in to do new client intakes and track all of the data of the people who use our food bank. The people that come through our doors are often struggling in their lives. Food isn’t their only struggle, but we know a person with food in their belly will be able to do more than someone without food. We also know desperate people will do desperate things and we just want to be a resource to them to help make their lives even a little bit better. The Pastoral Award helps us to feed hungry people in our community. We could not do the work we do without the help of others. We get a lot of thanks for the work that we do, but there are so many people that help keep our doors open. We also need funds to keep our refrigerators and freezers functional.

Many of the people we support are dealing with more than just food insecurity. They are also dealing with trauma, unemployment, health issues, addictions, mental health issues, and inadequate housing, just to name a few things. We often provide other resources to people. This winter, we put out a call to our community multiple times for winter clothing, and we were amazed at how much  we received to help vulnerable people, including children, stay warm in our area.

We currently serve the counties of Wollaston, Tudor/Cashel, and Limerick. We served 604 households in 2025, amounting to 1109 adults and 393 children. We also got 16 new households this year. We also track family sizes, housing type, income and the type of housing situation whether it be a single person, single parent, multi-generational family, etc. It is surprising to find out that 296 of our clients own their homes, but they are just getting by with the high cost of living. It is surprising to find that people live without power in this day of age, but some people have few options. It is also surprising to find out that people are living in seasonal trailers year-round. While some of our clients do have employment, most are in receipt of the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), or Ontario Works (OW). We also get a lot of seniors on the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) who do not have enough with today’s high cost of living. Our clients do not receive enough money to survive.

There are not a lot of jobs up here and you must have a vehicle as there is no public transportation. Poverty is well hidden in rural areas. Many people also don’t have access to a vehicle, and we must bring them their orders. Some of the people we serve are very isolated and don’t have telephones or internet or may not have reception where they live.

I have seen first-hand many times the relief on people’s faces when they find out that we are there to help them. Some people can’t say thank you enough or are very emotional. Nobody wants to be at my desk signing up as a new client. We go out of our way to treat people with dignity and respect. Their lives are hard enough, and they need warmth and acceptance, not judgement.

We also provide turkeys and ham for special occasions like Christmas and Thanksgiving. We know that they are struggling just to get by, so we try to help with special items for special occasions. We also provide sanitary products as these are things that people also need.

The Pastoral Development Award will help us to continue the work we do. Without donations, our doors would close. Our local grocery stores help us out a great deal, but we simply could not survive without financial donations. The need has grown over the past few years and the poverty is sadly ignored by our local government.

I once sat in a meeting with an MP who was telling us what we needed to do to tackle the issues related to poverty in our community. Many of us couldn’t believe that local government was telling us what we needed to do tackle poverty issues. It should be the government’s job, not a bunch of concerned citizens. The answers that fix poverty require a great deal of resources and money, and our government is simply not doing nearly enough, and poor people need help now. That’s why our food bank exists. It is important to note that everyone at the Tri-Township Food Basket is a volunteer.

I look forward to each Wednesday when the food bank is open. I am surrounded by good people with huge hearts, who just want to see people in our community do better. I also look after our communication, and we suspect this year will be even busier since we have increased our social media presence and the word about what we do is getting out to those who need us. Every time a marginalized person is helped, it may help them to push forward, knowing they have one less thing to worry about at that time. I have been on the other side of the poverty desk, and it is truly a humbling and frustrating experience. Some of our clients have come back to volunteer once they get their lives on track. Everyone we help is grateful that we exist.