The Fort York Food Bank (FYFB) on College St. in Toronto has seen lines of hundreds of people over the last few months.
These lines were formally made up of the elderly, and people who were facing housing insecurity.
Now, the majority of the line includes people under 45 who are deemed the working poor.
Part of this younger population also includes students, an unfamiliar demographic for the food bank.
Julie Lejeune, executive director of the organization and one of three permanent staff members, the remainder of the work being taken on by volunteers, said they have directly correlated the charity’s jump in numbers to inflation.
“We’re currently serving 3,200 individuals every week, and those numbers have been increasing every month for the last year basically,” she said.
Inside the food storage area in FYFB in Toronto. This food bank serves more than 3,000 people per week. Photo credit: Tessa Bennett
Luckily, she said, the community support is overwhelming, and FYFB has dedicated volunteers.
Johnathan Patterson has been volunteering with them for eight years and said his journey with them started when he was relying on their food services.
“I came as a client first,” he said. “My dad was a minister and was always happy helping people out, and I went through a time where I was sad all the time, so I tried to figure out how I can make myself smile, and this is it.”
FYFB has support through other organizations, as well.
They are partners with larger initiatives like Daily Bread and Second Harvest, who supply a large amount of food for the bank every week.
More recently, they have partnered with another Toronto-based charity service called the Bike Brigade.
“[Bike Brigade] started during COVID-19, they’re absolutely incredible, they deliver food and essential items to homebound residents, there’s a really big need for that,” Lejeune said. “It works well because we have plenty of food, but we can’t get to everyone.”
FYFB provides an inclusive variety of food options for the bank’s users.
Inside the bustling donation centre and kitchen, they have separate fridges for Halal foods and vegan alternatives.
In addition, they staff a diverse array of volunteers, to better manage any potential language barriers between themselves and the bank’s clients.
Inclusion is a major theme at FYFB, as they have removed barriers previously put in place for people to access their services.
“There used to be a stipulation that to use the bank you had to live in this area, but now we don’t turn anyone away,” Patterson said.
The number of clients using FYFB continues to increase, as predicted by Second Harvest’s January report. This report outlined a projected surge in reliance on food banks in Canada to be about 60 per cent.
FYFB has extended their services to provide those in need with food for two additional days per week, and has made the decision to keep their doors open longer on Fridays to ensure everyone gets what they need.