Rising food prices, pandemic rules drive up cost of church's free meal program
London, Ont. church says it needs at least $18,000 to keep program running
Free dinner, every Saturday night for over 20 years — St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church's dinner program has a decades-long legacy of easing hunger in London, Ont., but inflation and COVID-19 public health rules mean the program is getting more expensive.
"Food costs have gone up and we don't want to cut back on the fresh quality of everything we provide," said Cory Davies, who heads outreach at the church.
The church is also facing the added cost of eco-friendly take out containers, which she says can add up to more than $7,000 per year, because COVID changes mean any food they serve needs to be contactless.
"We can't just pour glasses of milk now, everything has to be handed carefully to people according to food rules during the pandemic."
During the pandemic, St. John's stayed open for Saturday dinners but say they now need at least $18,000 to keep the program running, adding pressure to their upcoming fundraiser — a 5K walk and run.
Last year's run was virtual due to pandemic restrictions. They set the fundraising goal $3,000 less than usual, but managed to surpass it.
Davies said she hopes to see the same generosity this year. The walk and run raises money for the weekly dinner, which sometimes serve as many as 170 people at a time.
"It's really a huge endeavour on the part of churches to work on the very serious food security issues in the city," Davies said.
In 2019, about 1 in 7 Middlesex-London households struggled to put food on the table, according to the Middlesex-London Health Unit. This August, the inflation rate spiked to 4.1 per cent, the highest seen since 2003.
The turnout for Saturday dinners has been high for years now but the pandemic has left more people "for whom money doesn't stretch so far these days," Davies said.
Stewart McIntyre, who is participating in this year's run and walk, is a member of St. John's and is involved in the dinner program.
"So many guests tell us what a special event this is every week for them," he told CBC News.
St. John's has 24 meal teams, usually made up of around 15 volunteers including the cooks who prepare the food and shoppers who source ingredients.
Leftover food is picked up by London Cares Homeless Response Services and distributed to the city's hungriest. They also work on housing first issues, help settle new Canadians and even sponsor textbooks for students who can't afford them.
"We like to say hunger hurts, hospitality helps," Davies said. "As well as just nourishing food, we hope there's kind of a nurturing atmosphere."