By: Pam Wright, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Chatham Voice
In 2025, 1,000 new families sought help from Chatham’s Outreach for Hunger.
That number has the food bank’s long-time executive director concerned as we head into the new year.
“It’s a really tough situation right now,” Brenda LeClair told The Voice. “We see an increase every year, but this year, we’ve seen a lot more families.
“In November alone, we served more families and more children than we have in any given month. It’s disturbing…very disturbing.”
Chatham-Kent’s new users are among 1 million Ontarians who accessed a food bank in the past year – an estimated 8.7 million times. According to Feed Ontario’s Hunger Report 2025: Hunger Hurts Ontario, one in three were children under age 18; one in three had disabilities, and one in four were employed but still struggling financially.
There are twice as many seniors using food banks now compared to five years ago, the report said, and three in five were social-assistance recipients.
These statistics are reflected locally. As of the end of November, Outreach for Hunger served 3,500 children and 5,000 households for a total of 11,000 individuals. LeClair said the charity registered 955 new families in the first 11 months of 2025. December numbers weren’t available at press time.
It doesn’t look like it’s going to get easier in 2026, LeClair said. Canada’s Food Price Report estimates grocery prices will rise between three and five percent over the next 12 months. The jump is expected to cost the average family $800 to $1,000 annually.
“Costs just keeps going up and up, but wages aren’t going up,” LeClair explained. “For the families we see, spending an extra $1,000, it’s just not going to work for them. They can’t make ends meet now as it is.”
Increasingly, LeClair said, she’s hearing from food bank patrons that they are having to make tough calls such as having to choose between paying for a utility bill or rent or a car repair versus buying food.
LeClair, who likes to stay ahead of the game, never waits until the Outreach shelves are empty before she does an “ask” for supplies and donations, noting she’s lucky to be in Chatham-Kent because the community “doesn’t always wait for the ask.
“People here are aware of what’s going on and they want to help,” she said. “They see food as a basic need and that’s one way they’ve never let me down.”
At the Salvation Army, which operates four food banks in Chatham-Kent, it’s a similar story. According to Lt. Jamie Anstey, there’s been an increase in the number of folks who need food.
“I know we’ve seen an increase but we’re not sure of the final stats yet,” said Anstey, who along with his wife Capt. Lana Anstey, shares the pastorship of the Salvation Army Chatham-Kent Ministries. “I don’t expect it will be kind going into the new year.”
According to Jamie Anstey, Salvation Army workers and volunteers worked “full force” into late afternoon Christmas Eve, emphasizing the agency can’t do its work without the community’s generosity, including money from the Red Kettle campaign. All of the dollars raised stay in Chatham-Kent.
“We also say no matter what, we can’t do our work without our donors and we want to say thank you,” Anstey said.
Over at FreeHelpCK, director Geri Hughson said she’s also expecting tougher times in 2026 due to higher food costs.
“It’s going to be bad,” Hughson said, adding she saw a significant increase in food insecurity in 2025.
FreeHelpCK, which specializes in helping the elderly, saw volunteers prepare and deliver 467 meals on Christmas Eve to folks without families or friends to share with at Christmas.
The charity, will runs six food pantries in Chatham and one in Ridgetown, remains busy refilling the free stands with non-perishables, Hughson said.
“They are empty and as I’m filling them, people walk up to get food.”
