Thanksgiving food drive in Guelph picking up after slow start

It was a slow start to the Thanksgiving Food Drive for the Guelph Food Bank.

The food bank was about to begin its annual campaign on Sept. 21 when the owners of the local newspaper announced that they were ending their print publication.

“Our (paper) bags arrived in Toronto the Thursday before their Friday announcement,” said Carolyn McLeod-McCarthy, managing director of the Guelph Food Bank. “That left us with 36,000 bags stuck in Toronto and no way to get them out in the community.”

It was a difficult introduction for McLeod-McCarthy who was only a few days into her new role at the food bank.

However, the food bank got together with all the grocery stores in Guelph to help them distribute the bags for the food drive.

“You can pick up a bag right on your way into the store, fill it, and leave it on your way out,” McLeod-McCarthy said.

The Guelph Food Bank are looking to restock their depleted shelves. McLeod-McCarthy says more people use their food bank and it is happening in other communities as well.

“We looked at February-through-June 2021 and we compared it to February-through-June 2023. Our increase is 120 percent and that is more than double the number of people coming through the doors.”

McLeod-McCarthy adds that 40 percent of the people who use the food bank work full-time.

“It’s not that they are unemployed, it’s because they have to make a choice of paying rent, making a mortgage payment, or putting food on the table.”

The food drive runs until Oct. 22. People can pick up the food bags at participating stores in the Guelph area. For more information or to make a monetary donation, contact the Guelph Food Bank at 519-824-1640 or visit their website.