At the Owen Sound Food Bank, Captain Colin Bain of the Salvation army says there have already been 300 Christmas applications compared with only 200 at the same time last year.
Along with the 50% hike in demand for help, Bain says there are some 2 dozen new families also seeking help who the Food Bank has never seen before.
Captain Bain is also concerned that some people accessing the food bank now, were people they helped a few years ago and managed to get out of poverty, but apparently have fallen back into the trap.
Bain says donations in the Thanksgiving drive were down, and they may consider doing a special drive in the new year if necessary.
Other area food banks are also reporting an increase in demand for help.
Neil MacDonald at the Walkerton and District food bank says there has definitely been an increase in residents seeking help.
He says the biggest thing he has noticed is that a lot of people are “down in the mouth and are looking at a bleak Christmas”.
In Collingwood, Food Bank director Jessy Kent says they have 160 hampers ready to go, but more applications are coming in all the time.
She says demand is definitely up from a year ago (no percentage however), and she says the Christmas Hampers in Collingwood will be smaller than in previous years.
