“We’re seeing a lot of new faces,” says Lila Knox, Director of the Community Food Centre operated by NorWest Co-op Community Health in Winnipeg. Her observation offers a glimpse at the deepening crisis of food insecurity that has affected more and more people across Canada since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Food insecurity refers to inadequate access to food that is nutritious and affordable. It affects individuals, families, groups, and some communities as a whole, and it has a profound impact on physical, mental, emotional and social wellbeing.

Prior to the pandemic, NorWest Coop Community Health’s Community Food Centre was a bustling hub with a variety of services and programs including a community kitchen and dining hall serving 240 lunches and up to 90 dinners weekly for nearby low-income residents. In response to the pandemic, their operations shifted to a takeout-only program. It has been serving not only its previous clients but a growing wave of other local residents who are now food insecure and who visit the centre for food boxes.

“We’re preparing in excess of 500 meals each week and the numbers continue to grow,” says Knox who has had to contend with capacity and safety challenges resulting from COVID-19. These include staff shortages, temporary loss of volunteers, and changing how they operate in order to provide a safe pick-up system. “Some people are travelling a good distance by public transit to pick up multiple containers for a large family at home or for neighbours unable to make the trip.”

According to Knox, the surge in demand can be attributed to three main factors. School closures have meant that many kids who rely on breakfast and lunch programs have been going hungry. Job losses have driven up the number of families unable to afford groceries. And, many local food banks have temporarily shut their doors making it more difficult for people who depend on them to access food locally.

These and other factors are deepening food insecurity across Canada. Take children, for instance. Before the pandemic hit, 1 in 6 kids across Canada was already affected by food insecurity. Now, with children at home since March, parents are feeling the pressure to provide more meals while also grappling with other financial and time pressures. Canada’s unemployment rate has surged above 13%, resulting in a cascading impact on unprecedented numbers of people.

While large food banks in towns and cities across Canada offer some relief, many have struggled to stay open with over 40% of them in Toronto alone closing due to safety concerns, the decrease in food and financial donations, and the loss of volunteers.

Across Canada, Community Health Centres (CHCs) have stepped up their services and programs, adapting and innovating to provide solutions to this growing food crisis. In Victoria, on Vancouver Island, the Community Health Centre Victoria Cool Aid Society has intensified its food security efforts for thousands of residents living in the 550 apartment units and four shelters run by the Community Health Centre.

“Half of our housing residents and all those who stay in our shelters already depended on us for meals, but the need for food from the remaining residents of our apartment units has spiked during the pandemic,” explains Paul Stewart, Manager of Food Services with Cool Aid Society, which has been in operation for over 50 years.

At the onset of the pandemic, food donations from grocery stores and local restaurants came to a grinding halt, and so Stewart and colleagues at the CHC have had to find innovative solutions, not only to maintain their existing meal and food programs but to expand them. The food preparation staff at Cool Aid Society hasn’t missed a beat. They are now working with a food hub to source produce and other staples from local gardens or farms, and they are preparing take-away meals for easy delivery to housing complexes. For those residents who are not able to receive takeaway meals, grocery gift cards are being distributed instead.

In Ontario, Carea Community Health Centre has received waves of letters, emails and cards from local residents describing the positive impact their CHC’s efforts have had in ensuring no one in the community goes hungry. The CHC serves vulnerable community members in the cities of Ajax, Pickering, Oshawa and Whitby, to the east of Toronto.

“In the past, we only offered food security programs to our registered clients,” says Paula Carter, the CHC’s Resource Development and Communications Manager, “but we knew that COVID-19 was going to cause hardship for an even broader population so we increased distribution to include anyone needing help during the pandemic.”

Carea CHC’s efforts have included providing food hampers with fresh and non-perishable groceries, delivering hot meals, and supplying breakfast bags with fresh fruits, yogurt and cereals.

One of their key priorities has been to meet the needs of seniors and marginalized families. The programs have been so successful that a decision has been made to continue at least one of the food programs indefinitely.

“As a Community Health Centre, our integrated approach to health and wellbeing means that we are constantly attuned to the spectrum of medical, social and environmental factors that are affecting health in the communities we serve,” says Carter. “These can change over time and as a CHC we adapt as needed to meet the needs, which is exactly what we’re doing with the spike in food insecurity.”