Anyone who follows us knows that feeding people suffering from food insecurity is a passion for the Keystroke Team. We've run two separate food drives the past year that raised over 40,000 meals through Second Harvest, Canada's largest food salvage organization. Recently we donated again during the Canadian Thanksgiving as that is a time when none of us should be worried about food.

Well, last night I was watching the local news and was alarmed to learn that for the first time in history, one in ten people in Toronto now rely on food banks. That's ten percent of Torontonians who cannot make ends meet. That is up from one in twenty only a year earlier. Skyrocketing housing costs, food inflation, stagnating wages, and insufficient income supports are pushing more and more households into poverty. Food banks are at their breaking point.

People are being forced to choose between food and medicine, or whether they can pay rent or eat. In fact, 31% of adults report missing a whole day's meals because they didn't have money for food. And the people suffering are not who you think they are. Here's a quick snapshot of the Food Bank Client demographics:

• 61% are renters in non-subsidized housing
• 59% have completed post-secondary education
• 55% are single individuals, and perhaps most heartbreaking, 25% are children or youth
• the fastest-growing group of new Food Bank users are aged 19-44

It is not enough to wring our hands in concern, it's time to act, so today we donated over $1000 to the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto. Thanks to the generosity of The Sprott Foundation, our donation was tripled to over $3000 (to a maximum of $1,000,000).  These donations will help purchase and deliver fresh, nutritious food through their network of 207 food and meal programs.

Obviously, this is not a local problem, as we know food insecurity has reached every corner of life today. For those living in Toronto, though, we'd ask that you take the opportunity to help now, and have the impact of your donation tripled by The Sprott Foundation. You can provide a one-time donation, or contribute monthly like we do. 

Thank you.

Additional Resources:

• DB_3714-18_WhosHungry_Report_E.indd (dailybread.ca)
• Let's Act! to end hunger in December
• Act! to end hunger by Subscribing to Act! Premium Cloud in Canada
• Keystroke Spreads Thanksgiving Cheer