Thanksgiving food drive focuses on children, youth: ‘Seeing more kids’

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The London Food Bank is asking residents to help ease the rising demand for school meal programs and support new research into food insecurity for homeless youth.

This year’s Thanksgiving food drive is focused on children and youth in the city, co-directors Jane Roy and Glen Pearson said at the launch of the drive Thursday.

“We are seeing more and more kids,” Roy said, citing food bank usage statistics showing a 14 per cent increase in people younger than 18.

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“That becomes a really disturbing statistic to us. What we’re seeing is larger families come more often.”

Besides providing food for families through its depots and other organizations, the food bank provides funding for the Ontario student nutrition program.

That program provides breakfasts, lunches and snacks to almost 23,000 students in London and Middlesex.

“Demand is on the rise. Nutrition programs are needed in schools more than ever,” Jody Winegarden, the program’s community development co-ordinator, said.

“We have a lot of schools on a waiting list.”

The program is open to every child, whatever the reason they need a nutritional boost during the day, Winegarden said.

The rising need for more nutritious food can be seen across all institutions, including food banks, schools and post-secondary institutions, and community programs, said Nikita Miller, executive director of Young London.

The organization will join Lawson Research Institute, with financial help from the London food bank and Sisters of St. Joseph, to study food insecurity for homeless youth, she announced Thursday.

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“We hope to gain a better understanding of what unhoused young people are facing in London around hunger and access to food and nutrition,” Miller said. “We don’t understand who are they, where are they accessing their food, what is the quality of food that they’re getting, what are the other challenges we’re not seeing and what do they need from us.”

Young London, formerly the London youth advisory council, aims to help city youth connect with each other and the city through work with non-profits and in political advocacy.

Young London members will spearhead and be trained how to properly conduct the research into homelessness food insecurity for the young, Miller said.

Pearson applauded groups such as Young London and the student nutrition program for helping children.

But he also called on governments to do more to address the growing need for help among children and the elderly, already the most vulnerable sectors of the population.

In 1989, all members of Parliament voted to wipe out child poverty by the year 2000, but lately it’s getting worse, Pearson said.

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“We’re here to challenge our decision-makers to do something about it, but in the meantime we’ve decided to act,” he said.

rrichmond@postmedia.com

36th Thanksgiving Food Drive

Oct. 4 to 14

Non perishable goods – drop off at any London grocery store or firehall

Perishable goods – drop off at Food Bank central depot, 926 Leathorne St.

Financial donations – at londonfoodbank.ca

No target, but last year 52,953 kilograms of food, $121,254 collected

London Food Bank demand

5,643 – families helped on average in each of first nine months of 2024 (a six per cent increase over the same period last year)

14,649 – individuals younger than 18 helped in 2024 (a 14 per cent increase over the same period last year)

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