Ottawa Food Bank needs your help to respond to COVID-19 needs

The Ottawa Food Bank has a special fund for COVID-19 relief.

The Ottawa Food Bank needs your help to respond to the community’s needs during the COVID-19 outbreak. The organization says there are many reasons why they need extra help to keep up with demand:

• Vulnerable families can’t afford to stock up food for days. With your help, we will ensure they have enough.
• Some community food banks in Ottawa may need to close for various related reasons. Your gift will ensure there is no interruption of service for families who rely on the food bank for food.
• With schools closed for three weeks, your gift will help families provide meals usually received at school or in after school clubs.
• Many fundraising events have been cancelled. Your help will keep our shelves stocked for anyone who many need food during this stressful time.
• Grocery stores are having a hard time keeping their own shelves stocked, so donations of non-perishables and fresh food are not coming through our doors. We need to rely heavily on purchasing at this time.

Rachel Wilson of the food bank said on CTV Ottawa in a March 16 interview: “We normally have about two month’s worth of food on hand, and now that we’re looking at increasing the amount of food we give to each family to reduce the amount of times they have to visit a food bank, we’re looking at cutting down to about a month’s worth of food and we have about four day’s worth of fresh food in our freezer right now.”

Wilson added there is expected to be an increase in demand for the food bank’s services as some businesses shut down and employees potentially lose out on the income they need to buy groceries.

There is a special webpage to make a donation specifically for the COVID-19 relief fund at the Ottawa Food Bank, or you can select it on their general donation page (pictured).