So many Canadians are relying on food banks amid the cost of living crisis that people south of the border have taken notice and responded with donations.
The U.S.-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated $2 million to Daily Food Bank, a non-denominational Christian charity organization that aims to end hunger in Toronto.
“Food is a human right,” said the organization’s CEO Neil Hetherington in a press release. “We are deeply grateful for, and inspired by, partners like The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who are dedicated to serving our community and ensuring that families have the support they need during times of crisis.”
According to Daily Bread, around 10% of people in Toronto are now regularly relying on food banks.
The Mormon faith has 17 million members worldwide with Ontario being home to about 50,000.
Church Elder David G. LaFrance said that the donation was a “reflection of our deeply held Christian conviction to love God and our neighbours.”
LaFrance said LDS parishioners were shocked by the position that one in 10 Torontonians now find themselves in and that members from across North America contributed to the sizable donation, which is part of the church’s global humanitarian efforts.
The LDS Church donated $1.36 billion toward 4,119 humanitarian projects in 191 countries last year.
“We are grateful to partner with Daily Bread Food Bank to help with the responsibility of caring for our fellow humans,” said Rich Ternieden, communication director for the LDS church in Ontario.
“It’s just part of what motivates us. We’re motivated by the desire to serve our fellow beings,” he said in Etobicoke on Monday during the donation’s announcement.
This isn’t the first time that the LDS Church has made donations to Daily Bread, having previously given the organization money in 2022 and 2023.
Daily Bread’s annual spending has skyrocketed from $1.5 million before the pandemic to $29 million this year, according to Hetherington.
He said that monthly visits have gone from roughly 65,000 to over 350,000 as of May, with the organization receiving about 13,000 new clients monthly.
“Food inflation, skyrocketing housing costs, stagnating wages and insufficient income supports have created a deep poverty crisis that is leaving thousands struggling to feed themselves and their families,” said Daily Bread in a press release.
“Close to one quarter (23%) of food bank clients spend 100% of their income on housing, leaving no money for other necessities, like food, and putting them at high risk of homelessness.”
The organization is desperate for more funding, according to Hetherington, who said the latest donation will buy about two million meals for people in need as well as two additional trucks for GTA distribution.
“The difficult thing is we need about 40 to 50 million meals every single year for the city of Toronto,” he said. “So that means we’re going to advocate to the different levels of government even harder.”
While food security is a major problem for Toronto, it’s twice as bad nationally.
One in five Canadians have an acquaintance who had to resort to using food banks to meet their needs, according to a national survey from last month.
Nanos Research conducted the survey between May 31 and June 2 and found that while only 2% of respondents said that they had used food banks themselves, nearly twice as many knew of a family member who had.
Polling over 1,000 Canadians, the survey found that more than 10% of respondents knew of a friend or acquaintance who had received assistance from a food bank.
The survey’s findings were consistent with those conducted a month prior, with a slight 2% increase in respondents who did not know of someone who had used a food bank and the remaining 1% said that they’d “prefer not to say.”