Thanksgiving food drive donations way down in Sarnia

Donations are down significantly to this year’s Thanksgiving food drive for Sarnia’s Inn of the Good Shepherd.

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“We’ve certainly been grateful for the food coming in from the Thanksgiving food drive,” said executive director Myle Vanni. More than 27,000 bags were distributed the week of Sept. 25 to encourage local residents to donate.

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But just under 6,350 kilograms (14,000 pounds) of food had been received as of Oct. 14. less than half of what was collected at the same point in last fall’s drive, said Vanni.

The agency runs programs for the working poor, unemployed and the homeless, and its food bank has been hit recently with a more than 20 per cent increase in demand and a drop in donations.

“Everybody’s feeling pinched with the cost of food and inflation,” Vanni said.

“Families that were just kind of making ends meet are now having to come to the food bank, or maybe folks who only came once in a while are coming more often because the dollar is just not covering what it used to.”

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It’s even tougher for those relying on seniors’ or disability pensions, Vanni said.

“It has probably the toughest time I’ve ever seen here at the Inn,” he said.

Donors also are feeling the impact of inflation, Vanni said.

Many who would buy extra items for the Inn while grocery shopping aren’t doing that now “because their food budget is tighter,” he said.

More than 2,100 people are currently using the agency’s food bank, Vanni said.

“We’re having to spend more on purchasing food than we’ve ever done before,” including a total of $80,000 in August and September, he said.

Vanni said a private donation matched by the local construction association brought in $40,000 recently, which has helped.

The Thanksgiving food drive officially wrapped up Oct. 15, but Vanni said, “even when the food drive ends, the need doesn’t end.”

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Donations will still be accepted at local grocery stores, firehalls, the Inn on John Street and the Good Shepherd’s Lodge shelter on Confederation Street, he said.

Shana Fellows, with Remax Sarnia Realty, was collecting food donations Oct. 14 in the parking lot at the Bright’s Grove Foodland.

It was the 14th year of a food drive Fellows began with an annual fall collection in Sarnia’s Sherwood Village neighborhood and expanded a few years ago to include Bright’s Grove.

Fellows said she and Theresa Powers collected donations the previous weekend in Sherwood Village.

“Any little bit helps,” Fellows said. “They need our help more than ever before.”

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