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A London anti-poverty agency is calling on residents for more help as demand for daily meals grows this summer.
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Ark Aid Street Mission usually provides meals for about 50 to 60 people a day at the beginning of the month when people can rely on their social assistance cheques, executive director Sarah Campbell said Monday.
“This month we were at 180 people right after the cheques came out. We were at over 200 this past weekend, each of the days,” she said.
The monthly average of meals served has gone from about 120 a day last summer to about 170 a day this summer, Campbell said.
Ark Aid is seeking food of all kinds, plus coffee, sugar, creamers and bottled water, and more volunteers, she said. For details on what’s needed and how to donate, visit arkaidmission.com/donations.
Because of renovations at the organization’s 696 Dundas St. location, Ark Aid is serving takeout lunches from 1 to 4 p.m. and a sit-down meal from 5 to 6 p.m. at the YMCA Centre Branch at King and Waterloo streets.
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The pandemic forced many volunteer meal programs out of business, and they haven’t come back yet, Campbell said.
But other factors, such as the rising costs of food and rent, must be fuelling the increased demand, she figures.
“People are finding themselves in need earlier in the month. People are out of money and out of resources,” Campbell said.
The London Food Bank also has reported increased demand for monthly hampers, compared to the same period last year.
The increase in food bank demand could be a result of people still out of work and/or losing their homes, while government aid declines, food bank co-director Glen Pearson said.
More Londoners need meals, so Ark Aid poverty fighters need more help - London Free Press (Blogs)
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