For 40 years, the Good Neighbours Care Centre in Peterborough has been run by exactly that — good neighbours. From the volunteers who commit countless hours stocking the shelves to the local businesses that donate what they can, the charity is a long-standing community effort and the demand for its services is only increasing.

“Over all these years, it’s been a whole variety of volunteers that just continue to make it what it is,” says Robin Adair, volunteer treasurer of the Good Neighbours Care Centre. “We just spent all those years keeping it going and serving our community and we will do that for as long as we get community support.”

Though Adair has been volunteering for the registered charitable organization since his retirement in 2019, the Good Neighbours Care Centre was established in 1984 and has run out of the same building at 164 Sherbrooke Street ever since.

Four times per week, volunteers of the charity go to three grocery stores in Peterborough to pick up food items like breads, premade salads, and produce. As a member agency, Good Neighbours Care Centre also received items from Kawartha Food Share up to three times per week, on top of receiving a major shipment with up to 10 skids full of packaged food once per month.

Then, clients can drop into the Good Neighbours Care Centre on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to pick up, at no cost, the fruits, vegetables, and bread, as well as visit the “sweet corner” full of cakes, cookies, crackers, and other pastries. Editor’s note: the centre is closed for the holidays and will reopen on Friday, January 3.

There are additional opportunities for clients to pick up household goods like gently used clothing, shoes, tableware, toasters, and personal hygiene products — all of which have all been donated by businesses and individuals in the community. If the charity has extra cash, they will purchase additional food to even out the offerings, if necessary.

“We run a pretty high-quality operation,” says Adair. “Those who come in to use our services can walk out knowing they have a zipper that works, the clothing is clean, and the food is good.”

Additionally, once per month, clients can get a larger haul of staple goods from the kitchen, including milk, eggs, frozen meals, proteins, coffee, tea, canned goods, pastas, and more. The clients will be able to get enough for the whole family and all it requires is showing a piece of government ID.

“Sometimes we get pork chops or salmon and its $40 worth that can be part of their big shop for the month,” says Adair. “Food banks aren’t there to supply every meal for our clients, but they are here to help them get through the month.”

Thanks to the suppliers and donors, beginning two years ago, the Good Neighbours Care Centre was able to undergo transformations to better improve client service. The charity repainted the interior of the 100-year-old building, installed central air conditioning, and received a brand-new laminated floor that was entirely donated.

“Our clients are our focus obviously and we want to do the best that we can for them in providing food, providing facilities, and just getting to know them a little bit and build a bit of a relationship with them,” Adair says.

He adds that the pantries are intentionally designed so clients can walk through and select their own vegetables, produce, and products as if they’re shopping at a grocery story.

“We try to present a place of high dignity all the way through the system,” Adair says. “That’s our goal with what we do. Treat them on a human basis, because we see all kinds of different economic status of people and how they have to live life.”

Though the centre never closed during the pandemic, Adair says he has since noticed an increase from roughly 50 to 60 people coming in daily before the pandemic to up to 80 or 85 now coming through daily. Some of the increased demand came earlier this year due to higher food prices.

“We found when inflation started going bad on food, around March this past year, all of a sudden we’re getting people we hadn’t seen before,” he says. “Making $36,000 a year on minimum wage doesn’t go very far anymore, so we’re just there to support and give a hand to those who need it. That’s always our aim.”

This year, the charity has served between 11,000 and 12,000 clients.

“We have clients that are there at 7:30 or 7:45 in the morning for a 10 a.m. start, so it would not be unusual for someone to stand in line for an hour or an hour and a half to get in because it’s first come, first served,” Adair says, adding that occasionally they’ve had to turn people away. “That doesn’t happen real often, but it’s heartbreaking to go out and tell somebody that we’re out of food.”

Increased living costs not only exacerbate the demand for Good Neighbours Care Centre, but also create a barrier for individuals in having the disposable income to donate to the charity.

“Even for a middle-class family, their grocery bill went up, and now they’re just trying to stay alive themselves, so they don’t have more to give to anybody else,” he says. “It’s hard on everybody.”

Those who are unable to financially support the charity might be interested in a volunteer position. Such work can range from driving the trucks for pickups, sorting donations, and running the shop during opening. Currently, the centre is made up of more than 30 volunteers, many of who are retirees.

“A person should volunteer long before they retire — you don’t have to wait until you’re 65 to volunteer,” Adair says. “Maybe it’s only a couple hours a week somewhere, but the whole concept of volunteering should be just a part of everybody’s life. Whether you’re a hockey coach or whatnot, you’re taking some of your time and giving it to somebody else.”

Those interested in volunteering can email hello@goodneighboursptbo.com.

“There’s fulfillment in helping somebody else,” Adair says. “I’m in a position that I can do that, and I enjoy doing that. Look at all the people we served this year — 11,000 is not a small number and there’s a lot of households involved in this, so we are thankful for it and for all who support us.”

He notes that while Good Neighbours Care Centre is entirely volunteer-run, there are always ongoing costs like operating the trucks and paying rent, and every bit of support can make a difference.

“Often you get somebody who says ‘I only have 50 bucks’, but we’re grateful for whatever you have,” Adair points out. “We appreciate it even if all you have (to give) is some clothes. Somebody else will be using those clothes. As an organization, we’re just grateful for whatever help somebody can give us, and we’ll just keep it going.”

For more information about the Good Neighbours Care Centre or to make a monetary donation, visit www.goodneighboursptbo.com.

“Relentless demand, inadequate supply, surging rents, and growing concerns around affordability make this the most challenging rental environment in Peterborough’s history.”

That is just one finding of a housing report released in early December by the United Way Peterborough & District that explores the challenges with securing a place to call home in Peterborough and area.

Year-over-year Peterborough’s rental market continues to be tighter and more expensive, notes author Paul Armstrong in the 19th edition of the “Housing is Fundamental” report.

The report provides an analysis of Peterborough’s worsening rental market and “underscores the ongoing challenges posed by housing affordability and accessibility,” stated a media release about the document.

“Affordability” is defined as spending no more than 30 per cent of total before-tax income on housing. But with the average market rent in the Peterborough area now $1,325, that means a household has to make $53,000 for a rental unit to be “affordable.”

The report states this means there’s little, if any, affordable housing for people who have low incomes.

A significant portion of renter households are in “core housing need,” with some spending well in excess of 50 per cent of their household incomes on rent, the report found.

“Meagre” additions to the Peterborough CMA rental stock in 2023 mean hundreds of units are still required, with the demand for rental units far exceeding supply.

Meanwhile, Trent University and Fleming College place a substantial demand on the city’s rental market, the report notes. New immigrants and foreign students to the area require housing. Housing suitable to transition people out of homelessness is also needed.

According to the report, the housing and homelessness crisis has been mainly caused by governments withdrawing from providing public housing, leaving it to the for-profit market to provide housing.

“Governments will need to return to direct provision of social housing and render additional support for non-profit housing,” the report states. “We need to build more, much more. We need to make it more affordable. And greater density will likely result. All of this calls upon governments to assert a leading role.”

The document also points out that the maximum benefit for people receiving Ontario Works is $733 per month, but the average rent in Peterborough in 2023 for the smallest unit — a bachelor — was $877 per month. A single bedroom unit went for $1,173 while a two-bedroom apartment was $1,411, and a three-bedroom unit cost, on average, $1,640.

On a broader scale, the Canada-wide vacancy rate was 1.5 per cent as of October 2023, which was a new low, with Peterborough’s vacancy rate standing at one per cent. Recent renter households (43.2 per cent) were also more likely to live in unaffordable housing than existing renter households (30.5 per cent), with unaffordable housing meaning more than 30 per cent of pre-tax household income is spent on shelter costs.

“When inadequate supply of rental units produces a one per cent vacancy rate in Peterborough, something has to change,” Amstrong notes. “When housing costs are now the primary driver of inflation and 20 per cent of Canadian rental stock is owned by large capital enterprises, something’s inequitable. When homelessness grows, but social housing builds don’t materialize, something’s unjust. The housing crisis deepens with little indication of relief.”

On the other end of the scale, high ownership prices have prevented renter households from making the move to jp,eownership.

And, finally, 2023 saw an unprecedented period of multiple converging crises, which included homelessness, housing precarity, food insecurity, income precarity, mental health challenges, and addictions.

“Flawed government policy has resulted in profound crises in an otherwise prosperous country,” Armstrong states. “Clearly, the government’s chosen, market-driven model for housing provision and personal security has failed.”

To read the report and learn more about the call to action, visit uwpeterborough.ca/our-research/.

A Peterborough teen is facing multiple charges after abandoning the vehicle he was driving after it left the roadway and went into the Otonabee River on Sunday night (December 22).

At around 10:15 p.m. on Sunday, Peterborough County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and emergency crews responded to a call about a vehicle that had entered the Otonabee River from County Road 32 in Douro-Dummer Township.

The caller advised police they had come across debris from a collision and saw a vehicle partially submerged in the water of the river. They called out to the vehicle but did not get any response, and advised police they could see footprints coming up from the shoreline.

After officers and emergency crews arrived at the scene, they found an abandoned passenger vehicle in the water with the side windows open and airbags deployed. Officers conducted patrols of the area and were eventually able to contact the driver by phone.

The driver told police his vehicle had struck black ice, causing it to hit a tree and then enter the river. He advised police he was fine and had received a ride from the scene of the collision. He was reluctant to provide police with his location.

Officers determined the driver’s location and went to an address in Lakefield, where they spoke with the driver.

During the conversation, they detected the odour of an alcoholic beverage coming from the driver and administered an alcohol screening test, which registered an “alert”. The driver was issued a three-day licence suspension.

In Ontario, if a roadside breath test shows a result of 0.05 to 0.079 blood alcohol concentration, the driver can be given a warning and an immediate temporary licence suspension. The penalty for a first offence is a three-day licence suspension and a $250 fine.

In addition to the three-day licence suspension, the 17-year-old male driver from Peterborough was charged with four offences under the Highway Traffic Act: careless driving, a novice driver with a blood alcohol concentration above zero, failure to report an accident, and failure to remain at the scene of an accident.