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An Oxford County organization’s program that doled out pre-paid grocery cards to clients in need so they could buy their own food is ending after two decades.
Operation Sharing, a Woodstock-based non-profit, cited rising food costs among the reasons for making the “extremely difficult decision” to eliminate the grocery cards as part of Food For Friends, which was launched about 20 years ago, said the organization’s director, Tim Dukes.
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“This is a very expensive program . . . fundraising is not easy these days, and everybody’s kind of living tough with the inflation and cost of living,” Dukes said of the program, which allowed people to buy groceries at participating supermarkets, rather than go to a food bank.
“Myself, the board, the workers here, the volunteers, we are literally heartbroken (about ending the cards).”
Food for Friends – which also distributes food, hygiene products, clothing and other donations from Operation Sharing’s headquarters at College Avenue United Church, east of Woodstock’s core – will no longer operate on Fridays between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. beginning Jan. 31. That was one of three days during the week people could get a pre-paid card.
Starting Feb. 1, Food for Friends will run only on Mondays and Wednesdays between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Starting March 31, the grocery card initiative will end, though donation collection will continue on those two days of the week.
The grocery-card program was designed to let people purchase groceries they desired independently. The cards were especially beneficial for those with dietary restrictions, Dukes said, adding there were limitations on some purchases, such as unhealthy foods.
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“It’s very unfortunate,” Woodstock Mayor Jerry Acchione said of the card initiative’s end, adding food insecurity is an issue the city and Oxford County are looking to address. “This certainly doesn’t help that.”
Although grocery cards will no longer be distributed, Dukes said the organization was beginning a partnership with Giant Tiger that will allow Operation Sharing to buy meats and school snacks for people in need.
Operation Sharing is more aimed at providing shelter, Dukes noted. “Food bank programs are not normally done through a shelter.”
Dukes added homelessness has changed in Woodstock and Oxford County. When the program started, there were somewhere between two to eight people staying at Operation Sharing’s shelter. But the group now runs three overnight locations, in Woodstock and Tillsonburg, that serve as many as 100 people daily.
Oxford County officials recently announced their intention to open a new homelessness service centre with the $2 million Woodstock secured from Queen’s Park for passing its home-construction target.
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada
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