By Abigail Cukier
News Staff

The Salvation Army’s third annual food services report, Restocking the Shelves 2011, showed signs of recovery on the donation front for the first time in three years.

Nearly one-third of about 160 food service programs reported an increase in donations year-over-year. This was a significant improvement over last year’s results, when only 18 per cent of programs reported increased donations.

But the survey also showed that 75 per cent of programs experienced an increase in demand for service year-over-year, with only two per cent reporting a decrease.

Hamilton Community News asked some of the local food banks served by Hamilton Food Share if they were seeing similar improvements.

The Welcome Inn Community Centre food pantry in Hamilton reports a 14 per cent increase in donations so far this year, but also saw a 15 to 20 per cent increase in demand.

Mission Services has seen a “slight decrease” in donations, but attributes this to space limitations.
“If we were not in the process of moving, our annual numbers would show an increase,” said Michelle Mack, food bank coordinator.

Between February and July, Mission Services saw an average increase of 13 per cent over the previous year, with the greatest increase in May and June, at 21 per cent more clients served.

“We began our moving process in August and have found ourselves serving fewer households due to space limitations; however, once we are settled into our new home in November it seems we will see an increase again.”

For the first time since the Salvation Army survey began in 2009, it examined nutritional aspects of the food offered at its programs and centres.

While 93 per cent of respondents said it was important to provide nutritious items to clients, 73 per cent reported that more than half of all donations they receive are either canned or frozen.

Welcome Inn executive director Carly Gaylor said 85 per cent of their donations are canned or frozen.

“This summer, between fresh vegetables from private donations and from Food Share, only 55 per cent of donations were canned or frozen and we were able to give out a lot more fresh, nutritious food,” Gaylor said.
A private donor has increased its fresh vegetable donations by 65 per cent, Gaylor said.

Chair Wilf Rogers said the Stoney Creek Community Food Bank does not have the facilities to accept fresh produce, but he has noticed more nutritious items being donated, such as more whole grain pasta, peanut butter and canned fish.

“We provide our clients with a balanced diet,” he said.

Mack says about 65 per cent of Mission Services’ donations are canned or non-perishable food items, about 10 per cent frozen, 20 per cent are fresh foods and five per cent are non-edible items.

Mission Services receives fresh produce from local famers, stores, donor’s personal gardens and Hamilton Food Share.

“We give it out as quickly as possible. Usually we can store it in a fridge or temperature-controlled area to keep it fresh,” Mack said.
“We will take any fresh, unprepared food and, while we need them all, root vegetables tend to be easier because they last longer.”

Because it can be difficult to always have fresh foods due to cost and availability, Mission Services provides meat alternatives, including chick peas, lentils, lima beans and pinto beans.

Over the past few years at Mission Services, Mack has seen  a “significant increase” in the amount of fresh food donated.

“We also see a focus on both the donors and clients looking for more nutritional food items,” she said.

Welcome Inn has “plenty” of refrigeration space because of an outdoor refrigerated storage container, which was made possible by a Rotary Capital Fund grant made to Food Share.

“For many people who come to our food bank, the food we are able to give is all they will eat for several days,” Gaylor said. “Both quantity and quality of food are critical for health, nutrition and day-to-day functioning.
“Without nutritious food, people have trouble concentrating, may feel unwell and, especially if they have any pre-existing health complications, may not have the nutrition necessary to maintain or improve their health.  And for children, academic struggles and hunger often go hand in hand.”

About a year ago, in conjunction with the Ontario Association of Food Banks, Hamilton Food Share teamed with several area farms to begin the Hamilton Harvest program with the goal of getting more fresh produce to food banks.

“We knew that to do so we had to not only increase the volume of food that we were getting into Food Share, but we felt very dedicated and very strongly about the fact that we needed to increase the quality of food that the people who are hungry in our community receive,” Rachel O’Reilly, resource development director at Hamilton Food Share, told Hamilton Community News earlier this month.

Food Share volunteers visited farms to pick vegetables not destined for sale because it is not the right shape or size. The result was that Food Share collected 90,000 pounds of fresh produce last year.

The next phase of Hamilton Harvest will see the organization purchasing food from local growers at a good price.