TORONTO – Citizens who lost food during power outages caused by Toronto’s ice storm are being turned away at several distribution centres after grocery gifts cards offered to compensate them quickly ran out Tuesday morning.
“There’s no mention of seniors help here. They say individuals and families but they don’t mention any seniors,” said a woman who was unable to pick up a food card at the Golden Mile Employment & Social Services centre on Eglinton Avenue East.
The Ontario government announced Monday that several private grocery store chains and retailers offered gift cards to help cover the cost of spoiled food.
At the peak of the outages, nearly 300,000 Toronto Hydro customers and 350,000 Hydro One customers were without power.
During a press conference Monday, Premier Kathleen Wynne said close to $200,000 had been raised for the compensation program, with the cards to be given out at Ontario Works offices in Toronto.
READ MORE: Ontario government to compensate people for spoiled food
Patti Walmsley was one of the lucky ones who arrived three hours early at the Eglinton East location to pick up a $100 card.
“We lost everything, four full days,” she said. “It won’t replace everything, but it helps.”
Toronto Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly, who visited the Eglinton office, said he understood the frustration of those who lined up, only to leave empty-handed.
“The first evidence that we have was that the demand was far, far higher than the province had anticipated,” Kelly said.
“If I were one of them I would certainly be annoyed. I don’t blame them.”
Kelly says the Eglinton East location only handed out 100 cards, but officials told him they will be “replenished” throughout the day.
“It rolled out quickly. The key to everything this week was about speed,” he said. “Sometimes when you work quickly, you don’t dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s.”
Around 200 Toronto Hydro customers remain without power Tuesday. Officials hope to fully restore electricity by the end of the day.
BELOW: Get the full Skytracker weather forecast for Toronto and the GTA for Tuesday, December 31, 2013
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