A survey released earlier this month found that 81 per cent of Canadians are more worried about paying for basic necessities like food, mortgages, rent than saving for retirement. In Fort Frances and across the district the one of the fastest growing groups seeking support from food banks are seniors and those on CPP and OAS.
They too are having to prioritize rent, taxes, home repairs over the basics of having adequate diets. It is an unfortunate hidden problem in the district.
The problem is more acute when single parent families working on minimum wages are showing up at the food banks in Fort Frances, looking for food to feed their children. According to both the Salvation Army and The United Native Friendship Centre (UNFC), minimum wages cannot feed, clothe, or put a roof over the heads of single parent families. Both the UNFC and the Salvation Army have seen a growth of over 30 per cent of working families seeking support from the foodbanks. With increasing rents, the increasing costs of foods, both groups see no end in sight for the growing need of their food banks.
One of the huge issues uncovered by the UNFC is that parents often hesitate to send their children to school because they cannot afford to send them without snacks or lunches. The UNFC now has a program targeting those families and provides them with healthy snacks and lunches for their school age children. The important thing that Sheila McMahon stated is that “The United Native Friendship Centre will service whoever needs help in the community.”
This past January the Kiwanis Club of Fort Frances partnering with the United Church worked to fill the food banks withing the community and both the Salvation Army and the Friendship Centre benefited. In their report for the first nine months of 2023, the Salvation Army had served 208 households in the community with 390 children, women, and men. The majority were between the ages of 45-64.
The food banks in the district depend on the generosity of the community. The Salvation Army Food Bank is a registered food bank with Feed Ontario. They can access foods such as milk, eggs, and pallets of food donations at no cost. They have developed relationships with the Fort Frances Senior Centre, CMHA, Family centre and fixed income blocks. Both groups speak of the generosity of the communities businesses and residents. The Salvation Army in 2023 distributed over 52,000 pounds of food. The UNFC distributed a huge volume of food as well.
We don’t see the poverty in Fort Frances and close our eyes to those using the food banks, and don’t want to admit that children go to school hungry and without lunches or snacks. And seniors don’t ever want to admit that they can’t afford to feed themselves.
