From donating canned tuna to saving spare change to gift to a local food bank, Northumberland County is encouraging residents to participate in “Hunger Action Month.”
County council recently proclaimed September as “Hunger Action Month,” in the hopes of raising awareness about food insecurity and driving donations for Northumberland County’s food banks.
Nationwide, Hunger Action Month is dedicated to raising awareness about the challenges of accessing food, advocating to end hunger and poverty across Canada, and recognizing the work being done by local food banks, school nutrition programs, community meals and hunger relief programs, to make a difference.
As part of Hunger Action Month, the county has developed a calendar that has a small task on each day of September that residents can complete to support better food security. Examples including donating lunch money to a food bank and volunteering for a nutrition program at a local school.
The calendar is available to download in PDF format from the county’s website.
Overall, the “30 Ways in 30 Days” Hunger Action Month initiative challenges community members to participate in small actions throughout the month of September to help support local food banks and food security programs, and to reduce food waste.
“Food banks across the province are experiencing record-breaking increases in use,” said Lisa Horne, Northumberland County’s community and social services director, in a media release.
“Between April of 2022 and March of 2023, 800,822 adults and children accessed food banks over 5.88 million times in Ontario. Locally, in 2023, over 5,000 residents made over 74,000 visits to food banks in Northumberland. This indicates a 32 per cent increase in use compared to 2022, underscoring the importance of initiatives like Hunger Action Month to raise awareness and galvanize support for community services addressing this issue.”
Throughout September, Northumberland County Food 4 All and Northumberland’s 12 local food banks are joining Food Banks Canada and Feed Ontario in their efforts to promote initiatives to help end hunger. At the national level, Food Banks Canada supports food banks and raises awareness about food bank usage in Canada. Provincially, this work is carried out by Feed Ontario.
Locally, Northumberland County Food 4 All’s Feed Change 2024 report is available to download for those who wish to learn more about local food support and see distribution and usage data for food banks and school nutrition programs in Northumberland.
The county encourages community members to visit and share the Food Help in Northumberland County web page at foodhelpnorthumberland.cioc.ca to find out where residents can access local food support.
Community members can also follow the Northumberland County Food 4 All Facebook page and share the county’s Hunger Action Month content to help spread the word about food security, the release noted.
To participate in the “30 Ways in 30 Days” challenge, visit northumberland.ca/HungerActionMonth or follow the Northumberland County Food 4 All Facebook page for daily reminders of how to support Hunger Action Month.
According to the Feed Change 2024 report, 5,297 people were served by food banks in Northumberland in 2023. Of those individuals, 71 per cent were adults and 29 per cent were children aged 17 and under.
Last year, Food 4 All distributed 1,217,435 pounds of product valued at $4,273,196.80.
During the 2023-2024 school year, Food 4 All helped 43 local school nutrition programs feed more than 6,000 students. An average of 103,673 meals and snacks were served.
In Northumberland, items most in demand at local food banks are fresh fruit and vegetables, canned meat and fish, peanut butter, canned soups and stews, pasta sauce, canned tomatoes, canned pasta, and toilet paper.
