Officials with the Gathering Place Soup Kitchen and the North Bay Food Bank don't anticipate many days this summer without lineups. Photos by Dennis Chippa.
As summer arrives, many are thinking of beaches, pools, trips, fun and sun.
For those struggling with hunger, and the groups that support them, there is only one thought.
Survival.
Jill Clark of the Gathering Place Soup Kitchen knows summer can, and likely will, be tough.
The signs are already there, as some of the kitchen’s busiest days this year happened in June.
Clark says 174 people came in for one lunch sitting and the lowest number the kitchen served in June was 130.
“Our chefs deserve an awful lot of credit because we have had three or four occasions when they’ve had to make a second meal halfway through because we’ve run out of food.”
At the North Bay Food Bank, the numbers are expected to increase a bit.
Amber Livingstone, the Manager of the Food Bank, says the problem during the summer months for most food banks is not an increase in people, but a drop in donations.
“They really decrease this time of year. So in order to keep our doors open, you know we still have to pay our overhead costs and we also need to purchase food because donations just aren’t there. So this is a time of year when we spend quite a bit of money.”
Groups usually hold food drives during the fall and winter months, so the summer tends to see more food going out of the Food Bank than coming in.
With school out, student nutrition programs are not available, meaning healthy breakfast and snack options are also unavailable for school aged children.
Clark knows she will soon see those children.
“If they’re from an environment that is living with food insecurity, one of two things happens: either their parent brings them to the Gathering Place or the parent comes to the Gathering Place using the little food they have at home for the children so they don’t expose their children to the environment of a soup kitchen.”
Livingstone agrees, saying compensating for their children brings more people to the food bank, including the working poor.
“People want to take holidays with their children but that could make their bank account suffer and they may need to come in and use the food bank because they want to do something with their children.”
Both sites also see new clients, many of whom are homeless.
More people travel in the warmer months, spend their nights in tents then come to the soup kitchen or the food bank for help.
Adding to the situation is that church food banks and meals usually close for at least a month during the summer, which cuts down on the options for those needing help.
Clark says the final piece to a difficult puzzle during the summer, is a drop in volunteers.
“We lose half our volunteers during the summer because they go away to their cottages too or holidays with their kids or whatever. We have to be very careful so we don’t burn our volunteers out, because I can assure you feeding 150 people in two hours is extremely hard work. So it’s a tricky time.”
A tricky time for those needing the help, and those struggling to provide it.
