Strained food banks low on food and money after storm

Sandra Bruffwas reduced to tears afterrealizing thePavilion Food Bank'sfridges and freezerswould need to be emptied after seven days without power.

Last Thursday, she anda team of fourothers got rid of spoiled or rottingmilk, meat, eggsand produceat the Greenboro-neighbourhoodfood bank.

"We had nothing left in the fridges and freezers," said Bruff, who chairs itsboard of directors.

"Absolutely nothing. We had to throw everything out."

Like many Ottawa neighbourhoods, Greenborolost power for several days followingthe derecho storm that struck the city and other parts of Ontario and Quebec on May 21.

She saidthe food bank was unable to access a generator and could only provide visitors with gift cards during the first week of the power outages.

"It was heartbreaking," Bruff said.

Now shefacesanother dilemma:the cost of replacing the food.

Bruff saidthe spoiled foodwas worth about $8,000, butrising food costs means it'llcost upwards of $10,000 to restock those shelves.

"I've got four or five fridges that are still empty," she said.

The need to replenishtheir food supply is even more desperate, Bruff said, because the storm pushed demand to an all-time high.

Ottawa Missiondoubled output in 1st week

While those food bankswithout power or a generator found their hands tied during the outage, other organizations came to the rescue.

At the Ottawa Mission, Chef Ric Allen-Watson prepared 14,000 meals in the first week ofoutages, double what he'd make typically.

The increased demand came from some of Ottawa's most vulnerable populations, who didn'tknow where to turn to for a hot meal.

"It was low income people that probably could barely make it from paycheck to paycheck," he said."There were young families, newly immigrated to Canada. There were also many elderly people."

"But no matter who they were, they all had that look in their eyes that they were scared."

Food security in emergency planning

The Ottawa Food Banksaid many member agencies were left in the same boat as the Pavilion Food Bank,having no power and little food.

CEO Rachael Wilson saidher organization supplied organizations like the Pavilion Food Bankwith over $80,000 worth of gift cards on top of "a significant amount of and non-perishable items that could be turned into a meal without needing to be heated."

But this help isn't sustainable in the long run, she said.

Ottawa residents describe hundreds of dollars worth of food waste as power outages stretch on

2 years ago

Duration 1:43

Four days after a powerful storm hit Ottawa, residents who are still without power say theyve had to toss out spoiled food from fridges and freezers, with the cost of replacing it all weighing heavily.

"Although there is an emergency response plan throughout the city and it works well, there isn't a consideration for food security in most of those plans, especially at the scale that we were seeing."

In emergencieslike a derecho storm, people from all walks of life are affected by food shortages, she said.

"A situation like this especially affects those who are most vulnerable in our community."

The Ottawa Food Bank is now putting together its own emergency plan, according to Wilson.

Wilson said access to food is necessary for people's recovery following the storm. Alack of access to food can be detrimental to people's physical and mental health, she said,as well as their ability to survive an emergency situation.

"Food insecurity is so much bigger than just being hungry," she said.