Food Banks Mississauga Thanksgiving drive needs donation boost to reach $800K goal

This Thanksgiving weekend, when families gather to enjoy each other’s company free from the stress of finding that perfect gift for the other big holiday on the horizon, Food Banks Mississauga is hoping residents will still dig down into their giving spirit. 

Halfway through the organization’s annual Thanksgiving food drive the organization was only at 52 percent of its goal — significantly behind compared to the same time last year. The lower number of donations comes as Mississauga experiences the largest growth in food bank usage anywhere in the province.

Food Banks Mississauga relies heavily on community generosity to gather the necessary food to provide for families in need. As part of its annual drive, it set a goal of raising $800,000 — a target organizers say reflects the growing crisis as the number of local residents facing food insecurity in the community continues to grow. With just a week until the drive ends on October 21st, there is still a long way to go to achieve that goal.

CEO of the organization, Meghan Nicholls, says the slow progress of the campaign is discouraging, not typical for the annual drive, which has previously seen higher levels of donations at this point in the fundraising push. The lower donations is indicative of what food banks across Ontario have been warning: as more people struggle with the high costs of living, fewer are able to give.

“We're about 15 percent behind where we were at this point in the campaign in 2023,” Nicholls told The Pointer last week. “Last year's campaign raised just shy of $750,000 and this year we need $800,000 so being behind where we were last year is not a great sign that we're going to be able to get across the finish line.”

As of Friday, updated numbers from the organization revealed Food Banks Mississauga is now at 72 percent of its goal. 

For the past several years, there has been a shift as more and more people who were once able to donate to food banks, are now finding themselves turning to them for support. This is the result of middle-income earners being squeezed by the financial pressures of today’s cost of living. Food Banks Mississauga’s annual impact report revealed 45 percent of the organization’s clients have been using the food bank for under a year and 27 percent of food bank visitors have full time jobs.

“For some folks, the increased amount they're spending at the pumps or the grocery store or on rent is the difference between being able to make donations and not make donations,” Nicholls explained.  “We are very much seeing what we promised everybody would happen if the government didn't intervene.”

With more residents who used to be donors now coming in as clients, donations for Food Banks Mississauga’s annual Thanksgiving drive have been a challenge for many families.

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer) 

Justin (his name has been changed) is an example of this shift. He is a former donor who is now coming to the food bank as a client.  

Despite working full time for 35 years, it was not enough to keep him from having to rely on his neighbourhood food bank after having a heart attack and struggling to go back to work. He told Food Banks Mississauga in July: “It's a place that you never expect to be on the other side of the counter. Where you've spent a lifetime raising funds in the community for different groups to all of a sudden be a recipient.”

“The people who are making use of it, it's not one size fits all. And it's not necessarily who you think. Look in the mirror. That's who you're donating to,” he said.

Nicholls explained that less than one percent of the resources needed come from the Region of Peel. Everything else is raised from the community and while many other social services receive some level of government funding, food is the one service where the community is left on its own to take care of their neighbors.

Food Banks Mississauga, along with other food bank organizations across the country, continue to advocate to upper levels of government for policy change to address the root causes of food insecurity.

Nicholls noted Ontario is the only province that has not made significant investment into decreasing food insecurity, which has only exacerbated the issue by mandating people to live in poverty. This, she said, is a direct contributor to why there are over a million people using food banks in Ontario, according to Feed Ontario. Premier Doug Ford has prioritized getting people out of poverty and away from using food banks through employment. Meanwhile a large portion of the organization’s users currently rely on social assistance programs and Nicholls pointed out that the rates are far too low to give people what they need to get a job. 

According to the organization’s latest annual report, 36 percent of all food bank users in Mississauga rely on either the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) or Ontario Works (OW). While OW is meant to support getting people back to work, with only $733 provided a month (the same amount OW recipients received in 2018), Nicholls said the rates are so low they do not equip people with the daily necessities — transportation, food and rent — to be able to live sustainably and look for work. 

Food banks have been calling on the Province to raise the rates to a point where people are not mandated to live in poverty, but those calls continue to go unheeded.

Although there has been more funding for ODSP over the past few years the rates still fall below their value in 2018 ($1,376 when adjusted for inflation) and significantly below the disability-adjusted poverty line ($3,091 per month). OW rates, on the other hand, have remained frozen for the last five years. The Province increased minimum wage on October 1st to $17.20 from $16.55 but the Ontario Living Wage Network has reported that a livable wage in the GTA is $25.05.

Social assistance supports continue to fall well below what is needed to bring people out of poverty, putting unsustainable pressure on food banks.

(Food Banks Mississauga) 

“The frustration from food bankers to feel like we're shouting ‘we're drowning,’” Nicholls said. “We're saying we're drowning, please do something to help, and all you get is, ‘thanks for your hard work,’ and no practical support. It’s just infuriating.”

“We have shared very clearly what will decrease food bank numbers and how much it will cost to do it. We just need a government that has the political drive and will to invest to make sure that our most vulnerable citizens don't become even more vulnerable.”

Last year the organization provided food support to 56,267 Mississauga residents — representing almost 8 percent of the city’s population or 1 in 13 residents. The latest numbers marked a 58 percent increase compared to 2022 and a 120 percent increase since 2021. The organization also reported that 48 percent of users experienced “low food security,” meaning they cannot afford to eat balanced meals and had to reduce portion sizes for some months and 27 percent of clients are experiencing “very low food security,” sharing that they have to skip meals every month.

“When people can't get the government services for housing, for mental health, for rent subsidies, for any of those other things that they need, then their food money starts to go to those needs, and then they need the food bank more,” Nicholls explained. “So I think it's a bit of a perfect storm happening.”

In 2023, the organization recorded 421,251 visits to a Mississauga food bank, compared to 235,750 visits in 2022.

Nicholls attributed the rapid increase in Mississauga to the city’s close proximity to Pearson Airport and the influx in asylum claimants that the Region of Peel has seen over the last year and a half (the organization’s annual report found 32 percent of food bank visitors have been in Canada for one year or less). She also pointed to the chronic underfunding in Peel’s social service systems as another contributing factor.  

Food Banks Mississauga will likely have to reduce the amount of food it can provide to people within the next year.

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer) 

Food Banks Mississauga currently aims to provide people with seven days of food once a month, but as the state of the current crisis progresses and no government intervention in sight, Nicholls cautioned the food bank cannot endlessly increase its capacity and it will reach a point where the organization may need to reduce services. It is a harrowing decision to have to make and Nicholls warns that is where Food Banks Mississauga will be next year if annual fundraisers like the Thanksgiving drive do not bring in the donations needed to sustain the food bank at the significantly higher rates of use the organization is seeing.

“If there is not a significant increase in financial resourcing to food banks in Mississauga in the coming year, we will have to start decreasing the amount of food given per person.” she warned. “We can't underestimate the impact that this has.”

For people who have the capacity to make larger donations, Nicholls is urging them to do so to close the gap.

“The message we would love to get across is that it could be your neighbor who's using a food bank. It could be a child sitting next to your child in class with no lunch. It's someone sitting next to you on the bus. It's the colleague in the next cubicle over. We're seeing hunger and food insecurity affect higher and higher income levels as the cost of living continues to rise.”

Food Banks Mississauga’s Thanksgiving Drive runs until October 21st. For every $1 donated, the organization can provide healthy and appropriate food for 1 meal to residents in need. To donate, visit foodbanksmississauga.ca/thanksgiving.

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @mcpaigepeacock 

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