December 3rd, 2020

Ford must inject emergency funding to stop families in Waterloo Region going hungry during the pandemic

KITCHENER — NDP MPP for Kitchener Centre, Laura Mae Lindo is calling for the Ford government to provide emergency funding to the Food Bank of Waterloo Region as the number of community members experiencing food insecurity continues to grow during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The number of families struggling to put food on the table, stay housed and pay the bills in Waterloo Region is skyrocketing. We need to do everything in our power to make sure that folks have food on the table during the second wave", said Lindo.

Since March 2020, the Food Bank of Waterloo Region has reported a 30 per cent increase in emergency food assistance with 1,301 households asking for help with groceries for the first time. Feed Ontario's 2020 report published last week cited a 26 per cent increase of first-time food bank usage since the onset of COVID-19 across the province.

"The Ford government's recent budget gives no additional funding to address the growing poverty crisis that people in our communities are facing. Doug Ford needs to stop pinching pennies, listen to the urgent needs of Ontarians and inject emergency funding immediately to stop families in Waterloo Region from going hungry," Lindo added.

Lindo is supporting the NDP's critic for Poverty and Homelessness, Rima Berns-McGown's calls for the Ontario government to step up and help fund food banks and shelters as the convergence of homelessness, hunger, unemployment and COVID-19 has put cities across the province on the brink of a humanitarian crisis.