Research Highlights

• Over 50% of people relying on emergency food providers report social assistance as their primary source of income.
• Children constitute over 40% of all food bank clients in Canada.
• Food bank usage in Canada has increased by 118% since 1989.

And in Guelph & Wellington…

• There are over 18,000 hungry people in Guelph, an estimated 30% of which are children.
• Increased demand has led many rural Wellington County food pantries to increase their maximum usage rate from three times per year to once a month.
• Affordable food services with minimal fees are still beyond the reach of many low-income families.  
  

 
Why is there a need for emergency food programs?
“…it was never our intent to be here as a permanent fixture…The growing demand for our services due to societal needs not being met elsewhere has forced us to continually improve and broaden the scope of our operations and fundraising capabilities. We are subject to “demand-side” economics, not “supply-side”. Business is, unfortunately, booming.”
– Morley Katz, Chair, Board of Directors, North York Harvest Food Bank

Emergency food programs, such as food banks and community pantries, exist in order to provide food to individuals and families suffering from occasional or persistent food insecurity. Health Canada has defined food insecurity as “the limited, inadequate, or insecure access of individuals and households to sufficient, safe, nutritious, personally acceptable food, both in quality and quantity to meet their daily requirements for a healthy and productive life” ¹. While there are many factors that may contribute to a person’s inability to adequately obtain sufficient nourishment, food insecurity is essentially a result of financial resource constraints. People who are not earning enough income often find themselves unable to provide a consistent supply of nutritious food for themselves and their families. Low incomes can be the result of inadequate social assistance rates, minimum wage levels that do not allow working people to live above the poverty line, and a lack of affordable housing.                                           
 
Profile of Users
Reliance on emergency food programs was initially viewed as a short-term problem in Canada, a result of the recession of the 1980s that would disappear once the economy improved. Instead of disappearing, the numbers of Canadians relying on charitable food donations has grown steadily throughout the 1980s and 1990s and well into this century. The number of people relying on food banks in Ontario has increased by 21.5% since 2001. This is not a reflection of increased population, since the rate of increase is over three times greater than the provincial population growth rate ². Of the approximately 338,000 Ontarians who access emergency food supplies every month, over 50% rely on social assistance as their primary source of income ³.

Figure 1. Primary Source of Income for Food Bank Clients (2005).

People who are employed full time represent 13.1% of emergency food recipients, indicating that low wages are insufficient to meet even the most basic food needs of some people in this country. Over 60% of Ontario food banks reported an increase in the numbers of working poor served ⁴.
 
Over half of all food bank clients are families with children. Children constitute 40.7% of all food bank clients in Canada, while Ontario experienced an 11.7% increase in the number of children visiting food banks from 2004 to 2005 ⁵.
 
Hunger does not discriminate and is a problem that affects people of all ages and ethnicities. Anyone with insufficient or unreliable income is at risk of hunger.

Prevalence
Food Bank Use in Canada
A lack of investment in social programs and income security supports that would allow people to live at or above the poverty line has contributed to a 118% increase in food bank use in Canada since 1989.   

Figure 2. Monthly Food Bank Use in Canada 1999-2005.

In one month of 2005 there were 823,856 food bank clients across the country ⁶. This number is larger than the populations of Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut combined.

Food Bank Use in
Guelph & Wellington
There are an estimated 18,781 hungry people in Guelph. Of these, 5,454 are children under the age of 14, 4,001 are youth aged 15-24, and 2,755 are seniors over the age of 65 ⁷. The services of the Guelph Food Bank were accessed 41,750 times in 2005 ⁸. While this number has remained steady since 2003, strong economic growth in recent years should have resulted in more financial security for lower-income families. Instead, a substantial portion of our population continues to rely on food security programs to feed themselves and their families.
 
The CSA Food Bank at the University of Guelph was opened in 2004 because a number of food bank clients in Guelph were identified as students. The CSA Food Bank serves all members of the university community and has seen a vast increase in demand since it opened.
 
The food banks serving rural Wellington County have also seen increased demand in recent years. The Mount Forest Community Pantry used to insist that people could only access the service three times a year, but now individuals and families are asking for help every month. The Palmerston Food Bank provided 309 food hampers in 2005, up from around 200 the previous year.
 
Effects of Malnutrition
Poor nutrition leads to other problems that end up costing the social support system additional money, in areas such as health care, education and criminal justice services.
 
Children from low-income households consistently demonstrate lower levels of health and less understanding of the basics of proper nutrition ⁹. There is emerging evidence that food insecurity can have negative social and psychological consequences on those directly affected by this problem.  A recent study indicated that food insecurity has a negative impact on children’s school performance and academic achievement ¹⁰. This research also found evidence to indicate that the level of food insecurity is correlated with greater external and internal behaviour problems in children. In the case of severe malnourishment over sustained periods of time, children have been found to have lower IQs than their peers, even after more than seven years of living in healthy circumstances ¹¹.
 
Hunger is most devastating when it attacks children, since it can affect their mental and physical development for the rest of their lives, thus deepening the poverty cycle since they will have less access to education and opportunities for work later in life. However, hunger also seriously affects adults, impeding their productivity and creating a host of associated health problems, making their lives even more difficult. Nutritional deficiencies have been linked to osteoporosis, diverticular disease, constipation, and iron deficiency anaemia ¹².
 
Community Supports & Services
There is a wide range of emergency food service providers in the Guelph and Wellington area. The following list details the different types of services available and some of the local organizations providing assistance to low-income households in the area.
 
Food Banks
The City of Guelph is served by two food banks. The Guelph Food Bank is operated out of the Spiritwind Christian Centre and is the primary source of food aid for the people of Guelph. It is a member of the Ontario Association of Food Banks and is required to share the food it receives with the smaller local food pantries. The CSA Food Bank was just recently opened and serves the University of Guelph population, both students and staff.
 
In the rural communities of Wellington County, several food banks have been established to serve local populations. Arthur, Clifford, Durham, Fergus, Harriston, Mount Forest and Palmerston all have emergency food services that provide hampers to people in need. These programs rely almost exclusively on local food donations and volunteer workers.
 
Most food banks will only allow individuals and families to access their services once a month, and provide an average of three days worth of food. In the past, many of the rural food banks would only allow people to come three times a year, however the need has increased to the point that this is no longer sufficient.
 
Community Pantries
Guelph has a number of community pantries that allow families to access emergency food supplies on short notice. Chalmers Community Service Centre operates a Fair Share Food Shelf on Friday mornings, in addition to hosting Saturday night suppers at the Royal City Church in Guelph. The East Wellington Advisory Group (EWAG) offers two community food pantries, one in Erin and the other in Rockwood. Food hampers are provided to local residents every Thursday and can be collected once a month, as well as on an emergency basis.  The Salvation Army is part of the Guelph Churches Outreach program and offers assistance with food, baby food and diapers and also runs a Christmas Hamper program to provide food and/or toy hampers to program participants.

Several neighbourhood groups offer services that aim to reduce the effects of hunger among their clients. In addition to community pantries, community kitchens allow individuals to learn to prepare nutritious and inexpensive meals. Typically, participants are allowed to bring the dish they prepared home for a small cost (approx. $2). In addition to hosting a community kitchen, the Two Rivers Neighbourhood Group also operates a community garden. Any household from the neighbourhood may use the garden to grow their own fresh produce. The neighbourhood groups offering some or all of these services include:

• Brant Avenue Neighbourhood Group
• Onward Willow
• Parkwood Gardens Neighbourhood Group
• Two Rivers Neighbourhood Group
• Waverly Neighbourhood Group

Garden Fresh Box
The Guelph Community Health Centre has initiated the provision of an affordable fresh produce service that allows people to access fresh fruits and vegetables, in addition to the non-perishable supplies they are able to receive from local food cupboards. The demand has more than doubled since 1998 and was recently operating at full capacity for the first time. This service is only available once a month and people must order a food box in advance. Despite its affordability ($10 for a large box and $5 for a small), the Garden Fresh Box remains beyond the means of many low-income families and this service is not necessarily being accessed exclusively by people in need.
 
* Of the above mentioned services, the United Way of Guelph & Wellington funds and supports the Centre Wellington Food Bank, Chalmers Community Services Centre, EWAG, and the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Groups.

What are the Social Service Issues in Guelph & Wellington?

• Every emergency food provider in Guelph and Wellington has reported increased need for food aid in the past three years.
• The number of single people, families, and senior citizens requiring food support services has increased.
• A recent survey indicated that 78.5% of food banks and agencies believe that an increase in social assistance benefits to allow people an adequate standard of living would have the greatest impact on hunger and poverty in Canada. Raising the minimum wage is a close second at 74.1%, followed by the need to create affordable housing at 73.1% ¹³.

1. Tarasuk, V. (2001). Discussion Paper on Household and Individual Food Insecurity. Ottawa, Ontario: Health Canada.
2. Ontario Association of Food Banks (2005). Ontario Hunger Report 2005. Toronto, Ontario: Ontario Association of Food Banks.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Canadian Association of Food Banks (2005). Time for action: Hunger Count 2005. Toronto, Ontario: Canadian Association of Food Banks.
6. Ibid.
7. Central Student Association (n.d.)  Meal Exchange. University of Guelph. Retrieved May 16, 2006, from http://www.csaonline.ca/mealexchange.html.
8. Guelph Food Bank. Retrieved May 14, 2006, from http://www.spiritwind-christian-centre.ca/guelphfoodbank.html.
9. Campaign 2000 (2005). Decision Time for Canada: Let’s Make Poverty History. 2005 Report Card on Child Poverty in Canada. Toronto, Ontario: Campaign 2000.
10. Reid, L. (2000). The Consequences of Food Insecurity for Child Well-being: An Analysis of Children’s School Achievement, Psychological Well-being and Health. Department of Sociology, University of Florida, Gainsville, Florida. Retrieved May 21, 2006, from http://ideas.repec.org/p/wop/jopovw/137.html.
11. Huggins, C. (2006). Early Deprivation Has Long-lasting Effects: Study. Reuters Health. Retrieved June 14, 2006, from http:www.reutershealth.com.
12. Patterson, C. (n.d.). Nutritional Counselling for Undesirable Dietary Patterns and Screening for Protein/Calorie Malnutrition Disorders in Adults. Retrieved July 25, 2006, from http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/clinic-clinique/pdf/s7c49e.pdf.
13. Canadian Association of Food Banks (2005). Time for action: Hunger Count 2005. Toronto, Ontario: Canadian Association of Food Banks.